Better Left Unspoken
by allieisrandom
Summary: Rachel and Kurt make a decision before sectionals in season one that changes everything. Fuinn are canon at the beginning but Finchel are endgame. I own nothing.
1. Prologue

Prologue: starts partway into Episode 1.13...

Having planned out every nuance of what she was about to say and do, Rachel Berry headed confidently in Quinn's direction. _Thanks for the acting lessons, Dads_! she thought. Jewish baby tests, of course! Why hadn't she come up with this before? Quinn was sure to be dumb enough to fall for it. If Finn really was the father of her child, no harm, no foul. But if he wasn't…once he found out the truth, Finn would be so grateful to Rachel that he might just finally realize that she was the one for him and they would walk around school holding hands together for the entire rest of high school, opening every Glee club performance with a romantic duet together-she had her eye on _Faithfully_ by Journey, because that's exactly what they would be forever-and then they would go off to college together, then become huge stars so that he could propose to her on a stage in front of millions of people and she could finally have a million dollar wedding and become Mrs. Rachel Berry Hudson and give birth to twins named Ayden David and Aria Destiny that would grow up to be superstars just like their parents.

And all she had to do was find a way to prove that this baby that Quinn was about to have wasn't actually his.

"Hey, Rachel, you got a moment?"

"I really don't, Kurt, later," said Rachel briskly as she walked by his locker.

Kurt closed his locker and started after her. "It's kind of important, actually," he said.

"Nice try, I won the diva-off, solo for sectionals is _mine_," said Rachel. She wasn't quite sure why she had won that, actually. She was pretty sure that he could've hit that note if he wanted to badly enough. Not that she was dumb enough to say that to her only real competition.

"This is about Quinn's baby," said Kurt.

That made Rachel stop in her tracks and turned around. "Yeah?" she said eagerly. Did he have the same suspicions as her? If he did, maybe she could get him in on her plan and they could share the blame. That would take away from some of the hurt her otherwise flawless reputation would undoubtedly suffer when she exposed Quinn.

"It's a big secret," said Kurt. He smiled and leaned in and whispered. "Puck is the father of Quinn's child."

Rachel froze. The blood drained from her face. "Really? You know this…for sure?"

Kurt nodded. "Artie told me about it this morning."

"Artie?" said Rachel. What did he have to do with anything?

"Tina overheard Santana and Brittney gossiping about it in the girls' bathroom and told him," said Kurt. "Of course you'd think that Mercedes would've told me herself-she's the one who heard from Puck in the first place-but she was afraid to tell me about it because, well, of the same reason every single one of us was afraid to tell you."

It took Rachel about three seconds to figure out what that was. "Everyone's trying to keep it from Finn?" Rachel shook her head and grabbed Kurt's hand. "No way, you and I have to go tell him-now! Together!"

"At first when I found out I was tempted to tell him myself," Kurt admitted. "You know, so that he would be so grateful that it might just make him realize that I'm the one he's been in love with all along and we would walk about holding hands for the rest of high school, open every Glee club performance with some romantic duet or another, and then go off to college together before becoming huge stars so that he could propose to me on a stage in front of millions of people and we could fly up to Canada for a million dollar wedding and adopt triplets named Barbara, Judy, and Liza that would grow up to be superstars just like us."

Rachel blinked at the disturbing similarities of her and Kurt's visions for the future. She was almost about to blurt out that they were more alike than she'd thought when he continued.

"Then I realized that that's never going to happen."

"Right," said Rachel. "Because Finn's not gay. Let's go tell him anyway!"

"No," said Kurt. "Because I realized that the way to gain happiness is never by destroying someone else's."

Rachel waited for a moment. "That's very…big of you. But don't you think that letting Finn know the truth is the right thing to do?" Kurt didn't react. "Come on, Kurt!" said Rachel hopefully. "What's more important than the truth?"

"Finn _will _find out the truth," said Kurt. "Eventually. Maybe one of the club members will even be the one to tell him. But it can't be one of us." Before Rachel could even ask why not, Kurt said, "Let's face it: if either of us tells him the truth right now, we wouldn't be doing it for him, and he'd know it. That would only make it hurt even more. And come to think of it, he'd probably just resent us for a while. Not to mention that we'd have to face the wrath of Quinn Fabray."

Rachel blinked back the tears in her eyes. "Oh my god," she said. "I never thought I'd be saying this but…I actually agree with you."

"Good, I'm glad," said Kurt. "So we're agreed not to say one word about this until and unless Finn finds out some other way?"

Rachel sighed, nodded, and held out her hand for him to shake. He smiled a little as he did so. "This sucks for me as much as it does for you, believe me."

Suddenly Rachel felt compelled to tell him something. "You know, I think you actually could've done just as well as me in the duet competition if you'd tried hard enough."

"I could've hit that note," said Kurt. "I just…I don't know."

Rachel just smiled and decided not to ask him to explain. "Why don't we go ask Ms. Pillsbury if we can sing Defying Gravity at sectionals-as a duet?"

"Sounds perfect!" said Kurt. "What else do you think we should do?"

"I don't know," said Rachel. "Maybe some journey songs?"

"No romantic duets with Finn," said Kurt. "For either of us."

Rachel sighed. "Right." Then she took Kurt's arm and they walked down the hall to the choir room together.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, Quinn stepped into Will's empty classroom. "Did I do something wrong?" she asked him.<p>

He closed the door and turned around. "Want to explain to me how you decided it would be okay to help Terri trick me into thinking that your baby was our baby?"

Quinn's face turned pale instantly. "Oh, shit. She promised me that you wouldn't find out."

"Well, I did," said Will.

Quinn looked up into his hurt eyes and started crying. "Mr. Shu, I…I just wanted my baby to have a good family, that's all! I wasn't doing it to deceive you!"

"You wanted your baby to have a good family so you handed her off to _Terri_?" said Will.

Quinn shook her head tearfully. "To _you_."

Will sighed. "That's not the right way to get a good family for your baby, Quinn. I know Terri probably made it seem that way to you. She's manipulative like that. But there are plenty of families out there who would be willing to adopt your baby. And I think you could also make it work if you wanted to keep it yourself. There are plenty of services for teen moms. Just go ask Ms. Pillsbury, I'm sure she's got a pamphlet or two." Just then the phone in the classroom rang, and Will opened the door for Quinn to leave and wordlessly walked over to the desk to answer it.

Quinn turned around and began making her way down the hall. It felt weird to be heading to the choir room for Glee practice while Mr. Shu was grading papers. But she had something more important to think about. She was confident that she or any woman she might consider giving her baby to would be a good mother. Maternal instinct came naturally. But she was far more worried about her daughter having what she had never had: a good father. Quinn's father had come around when he'd felt like it and played with her and her sister, but for the most part had remained distant and relied on her mother to take care of them. The one time she'd tried talking to him about a problem, all he'd done was tell her to go talk to her mother. "She'll know what to do," he'd said. Quinn had been too young at the time to realize that the implication was that he didn't. And right now, all she wanted was to know that her little girl was going to have a father who would be just a much a part of her life as her mother would and who would be there for her when she needed him. And after the failed test drive she'd taken Puck on and the money he'd tried to steal from the wheelchair fund, Quinn knew that there was only one way to make that happen.

"That's a great idea for a duet, you guys," said Emma approvingly to Rachel and Kurt sitting together at the front of the room. "Are there any other ideas for sectionals?"

"Maybe we should wait for Finn and Quinn to get here before we decide," said Mercedes.

"Where are they?" asked Puck.

As if on cue, Finn and Quinn walked through the door right then. "Hey, Finn," said Tina. "You think we should do Proud Mary for sectionals or Keep Holding On?"

"Maybe both," said Finn. "But first we have an announcement to make."

"Oh?" said Emma.

Quinn smiled and took Finn's hand. "Finn and I are keeping our baby."

"Woohoo!" said Mercedes. She stood up and clapped, most of the other club members following suit. Rachel and Kurt stood up slowly and clapped politely rather than excitedly. Rachel visibly bit her lip and Kurt glanced at her as if to say, _Not one word._ Then they joined in when everyone went over to Finn and Quinn to hug them and congratulate them. There was only one person who remained seated.

"Puck?" said Emma gently. "Is something wrong?"

"No," snapped Puck. "Everything's fine." Only when everyone in the room glanced up at him did he walk over and grudgingly offer his own congratulations to Finn and Quinn on the fact that they were about to raise his child.


	2. For Her Sake

**One year later…**

"And don't worry about Artie out there, he's like a human cannon ball," said Finn. "Anyone I haven't covered?"

"Karofsky," said Sam.

"Oh yeah," said Finn. "He's the biggest idiot out there. If you need someone to distract the players or block something, use him."

"Got it," said Sam. "Thanks."

"What's going on?" asked Santana, coming up to the two football players standing out in the hallway. "Where's Quinn?"

"In the girl's bathroom feeding Lily," said Finn. "She might be a few minutes late to geometry."

"You guys brought your baby to school?" said Sam. "Is that even legal?"

"Shh! What Figgins doesn't know won't hurt him," said Finn. "We both have tests today and neither one of our moms could watch her."

"Guess what?" said Sam to Santana. "I'm about to be taking over as quarterback."

"Really?" said Santana. "That's amazing!" She gave her boyfriend a giant kiss on the lips. "I thought you were trying out for quarterback, Finn."

"I had to quit the team altogether," said Finn. "Taking care of half the midnight feedings now that Quinn is back in school keeps me exhausted enough."

"Hey guys, we have Glee practice today, right?" said Puck, making his way over with their newest member Lauren.

"Yeah," said Sam. "I heard Mr. Shu say that he wants to do something different for sectionals this year."

"Really?" said Santana. "Like what?"

"Not sure," said Sam.

"I wonder who's going to open it?" said Puck.

"Probably me and Sunshine," said Finn.

"Weird as it is seeing you guys sing together," said Puck. "She's the only good high voice we've got with Kurt and Rachel both gone."

"Who?" said Sam.

"Oh, Rachel was before your time," said Finn quickly. "So…um…sectionals…"

"What did happen to Kurt and Rachel?" said Lauren. She looked at Santana. "Did you eat them?"

"_No_," said Santana. "Kurt left because Karofsky kept threatening him and we couldn't get him to stop, and Rachel left because she's a pathetic whore. There are times when I wanted to eat her, though."

"No she's not," said Finn quickly. "She's very wholesome actually. Kurt's on the Dalton Academy Warblers now, we'll be going up against them in sectionals."

"Yeah, I've heard that they're really good," said Sam in an attempt to help Finn change the subject.

"Really, Finn?" said Santana. "Was she really that "wholesome" when she was romancing the competition behind our backs throughout half of last year?"

"_Literally _sleeping with the enemy, as you may recall," said Puck.

Of course Finn remembered the conversation they'd had that day, just a few months after he and Quinn had decided to keep their baby. He and Rachel had still been beginning to adjust to their inevitable permanent status as "just friends" and duet partners. He had let it slip out that he and Quinn had never actually had sex in order to get pregnant, and she had confessed to him that she had a big date with Jesse St. James.

_"It went…it went wonderfully," said Rachel awkwardly. "Honestly it wasn't that big of a deal. I…I mean you know, it was great…but…when it was over I just…um…I didn't know why I was so nervous in the first place."_

_Finn nodded just as awkwardly. "I'm happy for you."_

_Rachel looked down and began shuffling the sheet music she was holding. "What about you? I heard about your big date with Quinn on Friday night when your mom was out of town."_

_"Nothing happened," said Finn quickly. "We couldn't go through with it."_

_Rachel looked up, surprised. "Why not? She's already pregnant."_

_Finn shrugged. "I guess I'm just waiting for the right…" Rachel starred at him. "Time."_

He wasn't sure why he'd said that, really. It wasn't as if he regretted what he and Quinn had finally done that night. He just hadn't wanted Rachel to have that mental image. Even though it was more than clear that she had moved on.

"Exactly!" said Santana. "She had to go ahead and become a traitor the minute she got over her _pathetic_ schoolgirl crush on Finn, dated Jesse St. James from Vocal Adrenaline the entire rest of the year, even after he went back to his own school, and don't even get me _started_ on what she did literally ten minutes after we lost to them at Regionals.

"What was that?" asked Finn.

"Well," said Santana. "She went to go congratulate Ms. Corcoran and…"

_"It took meeting you to realize all this stuff that I missed out on," Shelby confessed. "I need some balance, I need a house and a garden and a dog…and a family."_

_Rachel gulped. "I've decided that I want to move in with you."_

_Shelby blinked. "Excuse me?"_

_"My dads are a little disappointed," said Rachel. "But they understand my need to get to know you after all these years."_

_"Are you sure about this, Rachel?" Shelby whispered hopefully. "You'd be living in a new school district, you know."_

_"That's part of the reason I want to do this, actually," said Rachel. "All my teammates at New Directions put up with me because I'm the only real talent they have, but ever since they found out that I'm with Jesse they've hated me. I want to transfer high schools and join Vocal Adrenaline." She paused a moment and smiled when Shelby's face lit up. "There's so much that…you can teach me. So much only you can teach me."_

_Tearfully, Shelby wordlessly stood up and gave her daughter a hug. And it was all settled._

"Seriously?" said Finn. "I always assumed that Shelby was the one who approached Rachel or she left to be with Jesse or…something."

"How did you not know?" asked Sam.

"He was at the hospital with Quinn and Lily that whole time," said Santana. "Speaking of which…"

"Aww, hi there!" said Sam as Quinn approached holding the baby in her carrier.

"I have a test first period," she said. Finn wordlessly took the handle of the carrier and let Quinn put the diaper bag over his shoulder like a purse. Then Quinn gave him a quick kiss before heading off to class.

"Who's that?" asked Brittany as she walked over to them alongside Artie.

Santana gave her a weird look. "It's Lily."

"Really?" said Brittany. "She looked different last time I saw her."

"That's because she was three months younger," said Quinn.

"Oh," said Brittany.

"What's her full name by the way?" asked Sam.

"Lillian Carole Fabray-Hudson," said Finn proudly.

"Tell me," said Artie. "Was it creepy watching her be born?"

"A little," said Finn. Everyone looked to him. "The hardest part was Quinn squeezing my hand so hard it felt like it was about to snap in two. And then when Lily came out she was all covered in all kinds of slime and, yeah, kind of gross. But then the nurses took her and cleaned her up and wrapped her in a blanket and they handed her to me and…" Finn nodded. "It was amazing." He looked down. "Hard to believe how big she's gotten."

Sam glanced at the sleeping infant and smiled almost sympathetically. "Must be hard."

"It is," said Finn. "Believe me. But it's worth it."

"Is it absolutely terrifying knowing that you're partly responsible for her life now?" said Santana.

"Wow, way to be sensitive," mumbled Artie.

"It's more about the pressure than anything," Finn admitted. "It was only really scary at the beginning. I actually started trembling when I wrote her name down on the birth certificate. Afterwards I just took a deep breath and I heard my mom say, "Finn?" and I looked up expecting her to say something to make me feel better, and she just put her hand on my shoulder and smiled and said, "Your name has _two_ N's"."

Everyone started laughing. "_Wow_," said Sam. "Fail!"

Lauren rolled her eyes and was about to make some crack about how Lily had better have gotten Quinn's spelling skills when she noticed that Puck was wandering off. She wondered why and got up to follow him. Whatever he was doing _had_ to be more interesting than grinning and making pathetic noises at the baby like everyone else was. "You don't like babies either, huh Puckerman?" said Lauren once they were out of earshot of everyone else. "I personally think they're revolting."

"That baby isn't revolting, it's Finn and Quinn who are revolting," snapped Puck.

"I totally agree," said Lauren. "For being dumb enough to get knocked up in the first place. Haven't they ever heard of the pill?"

Puck sighed. "You want to know a secret?"

"Not it's boring," said Lauren. "If it isn't, _hell yeah_."

Puck lowered his voice. "I'm the one who got Quinn pregnant. That baby is _mine_."

Lauren blinked and then nodded. "Damn. No one could tell, she looks _nothing _like you. Thank god."

"But _everyone_ knows," said Puck. "All those people out there rallying around him telling him what a beautiful baby's got know that that kid is _mine_. Except maybe Sam, if Santana or someone hasn't told him already. Even Finn's stepbrother, Kurt, who _lives_ with them, knows."

"Are you _sure_?" said Lauren. "Did she get a DNA test?"

"She doesn't need one," said Puck. "Trust me. She was the president of the celibacy club when she got pregnant. She convinced Finn that it happened when they were in a hot tub together _with clothes on _because that's as far as she was willing to go."

"Really?" said Lauren. "Then how the hell did you manage to get it on with her?"

"We were drunk," Puck admitted. "Well…_she _was drunk. I may have had a couple."

Lauren nodded to herself. "Hmm…nice…so you get to deflower the chastity queen and at the other end your best friend deals with the consequences? Sounds like a pretty sweet deal to me."

Suddenly, Puck forgot his irritation at the way his friends were behaving and seized what he saw as an opportunity to look cool in front of the girl who had kind of turned him down the other night. He smiled arrogantly and said, "Well, yeah. Yeah it is."

Lauren smiled. "You're an ass." Then she turned around and walked away, leaving Puck dumbfounded.

* * *

><p>Mr. Schuster walked into the choir room later that day to find Mike, Sam, and Artie going over some football strategies, Lauren and Puck sitting pointedly as far as they could from each other, and Brittany, Santana, Tina, Mercedes, and Sunshine all sitting in a cluster around Finn and Quinn. "Wow," he said. "Glad to see that all…" that's when he noticed what Quinn had in her lap. "Thirteen of you are here today, because I have a lot we need to go over for sectionals."<p>

"What song are Finn and I going to sing?" asked Sunshine.

"I actually thought we'd try something a little different," said Mr. Schu. "Tina, I want you and Artie to open up the show."

"What?" said Tina and Mike in unison.

"Seriously?" said Brittany.

"This isn't about who's dating who," said Mr. Schu. "They well together vocally, therefore, it makes sense to have them sing together. I also want to showcase the dancing skills of Brittany and Mike Chang during the second number."

"Wow, that is different," remarked Finn.

"I'm game," said Santana.

Mr. Schuster pointed at her. "Good, because you'll be the lead vocal during the second number."

Then out of the blue, Lily let out a squeal. "No, not you," said Mr. Shuster jokingly. Her parents and a few of the people around them laughed.

"Maybe in a few years," said Quinn, stroking Lily's fuzzy black hair thoughtfully. Maybe it would be fun to teach her how to sing one day, especially if she turned out to be as vocally talented as her father, she could be a lead singer too.

Then Quinn startlingly remembered that Lily wasn't biologically Finn's daughter. How was it that she of all people had forgotten that, even for a second? She smiled a little. It was just as well. If she was forgetting, chances are that everyone else who knew was forgetting, too. She glanced over at Puck, who was sitting sulkily two rows behind her, and it suddenly occurred to her to be thankful that he and Finn had the same hair color.

Later that night, Quinn laid Lily down in her crib and stepped out into the dark hallway of the huge two-story house that Burt and Carole had bought when they got married. The house had two master bedrooms, one for Burt and Carole and one for Finn and Quinn. Kurt had insisted that he was happy living in the basement. There was a small room that Carole had told Quinn could be used as Lily's bedroom when she was older, but for now she and Finn were happy with the crib and all Lily's things being right there in their bedroom.

Quinn jumped slightly when the door that led to the stairs going down to the basement opened. "Kurt, you scared me!" she whispered.

"Sorry," he whispered. "I just came up to get a drink."

"I'm looking for Finn," said Quinn.

"He's upstairs watching the game with Dad," said Kurt.

"If you see him, will you tell him I'm in the shower?" said Quinn.

"Sure," said Kurt. "Do you need someone to watch Lily?"

"She's asleep," said Quinn. "But thanks. So, what's the Warblers' game plan for sectionals?"

Kurt smiled. "Nice try." He walked off in the direction of the kitchen while Quinn went to go get in the shower.

Twenty minutes later, Quinn stepped out of the shower and wrapped herself in the towel. She froze when she heard the low sound of Finn's voice and a cry from Lily. She must have woken up after Quinn left. Quinn began walking slowly in the direction of their bedroom and stopped in the doorway to stare at them when she got close. There was Finn, cradling Lily in his arms with her head close to his and quietly singing.

"_And when_  
><em>When the night falls on you baby<em>  
><em>You're feeling all alone<em>  
><em>You won't be on your own<em>  
><em>I'll stand by you<em>  
><em>I'll stand by you<em>  
><em>Won't let nobody hurt you<em>  
><em>I'll stand by you<em>  
><em>Take me in, into your darkest hour<em>  
><em>And I'll never desert you<em>"

Quinn felt the tears welling up in her eyes as she thought to herself that there was no question that she had made the right decision to tell Finn that he was Lily's father. There was no chance Puck would ever do this.

"I can't ever let him find out," she thought. "For her sake."


	3. Sectionals

Blaine walked through the lobby of the theater where sectionals was being held and over to his friend. "Hey, Kurt," said Blaine. "We're up second, better get ready."

"Kay, thanks," said Kurt. "Do I have time to go wish my friends luck?"

"Well…no," said Blaine awkwardly. "You really aren't supposed to wish the competition luck."

Kurt sighed. "Right."

"There you are!"

Kurt turned and saw Rachel. "Hey, you made it!" he leaned over and gave her a hug.

Blaine eyed Rachel suspiciously. "Isn't she part of New Directions?"

"No, she's on Vocal Adrenaline," said Kurt. "Not competing with us today."

Rachel smiled. "You might see us at Regionals, though."

"Right, I heard you won your sectionals," said Blaine. "Congrats."

"Thanks," said Rachel. "Good luck out there!" Then she dashed off to go sit in the audience.

Back in the green room, Santana was warming up, and so were Artie and Tina.

"Are you nervous?" said Tina.

"A little," said Artie. "But we've got this."

"That's some song Mr. Schu picked for us to sing," Tina remarked. "Rehearsing it with you has been really…really _something_." She glanced over at Mike standing in the corner going over dance moves with Brittany and wondered if this was the time to tell Artie that she and Mike had broken up because they'd both gotten too jealous over the amount of time they'd each spent rehearsing with the other person. But she bit her tongue. There was still Brittany to consider, and with everyone nervous about being about to go up there was enough tension in the room as it was.

In another corner of the room, Quinn was tying Finn's tie. "Are you sure your mom doesn't mind watching Lily for a while on a Saturday?" asked Finn.

"No, of course not," said Quinn. "They came to watch us sing, in fact. Sorry your mom couldn't make it."

"I understand her having to work overtime, though," said Finn. "Especially after having to buy a house big enough for all six of us plus pay Kurt's tuition for Dalton."

"Speaking of which, I think The Warblers are up now," said Sam.

"Awesome," said Finn. He walked over to where he could see his brother performing. Quinn stayed behind to fix her makeup. Santana came up beside her and started fixing her own hair. "Hey, Quinn," said Santana. "Haven't talked to you in a while. How does it feel to be a Lima Loser?"

Quinn froze. "Excuse me?"

"Face it," said Santana. "I'm the new you! Head cheerleader, dating the quarterback, a young Sue Sylvester without her bone structure, all the guys want me but only one gets me…in theory. You, on the other hand, are washed up. The highest status that you could reach anymore is…MILF." Then she walked away to go warm up some more.

"Shouldn't you be out looking for someone else to knock up?" remarked Lauren sarcastically to Puck in another corner of the room.

"Look, the other day when I said that I thought it was cool, I lied," said Puck. "I thought that would impress you."

"Well, it didn't," said Lauren. "It wouldn't impress any girl."

"I got the impression that you weren't like other girls," said Puck.

"Not in some ways," said Lauren. "But in a lot of ways I am." Puck just starred at her for a moment, not knowing quite what to say. "You know what would impress most girls? Honesty."

Puck sighed and lowered his voice. "The truth is…I hate it. He gets all the sympathy _and _the girl."

Lauren raised her eyebrows. "Quinn?"

"No," said Puck. "Lily. I never even got a chance to hold her or be in the room when she was born or…_anything._"

"Did you try?" said Lauren.

"I did," said Puck. "The only people who Quinn would let in the delivery room were Finn, Mercedes, Ms. Hudson, and her mom. When I asked to go in, of course, everybody just looked at me like I was insane. Even Mercedes, who _knows_, just looked at me and yelled, "Puck, don't be an idiot", meaning don't be stupid enough to tell everyone the truth at the last second. Finn even thought I was being some sort of pervert wanting to see his girlfriend lying on a hospital table screaming with her legs spread apart. Like there's anything even remotely sexy about _that._"

"If you'd _really _wanted to be in there, you would've just told them the truth," said Lauren unsympathetically.

"Like anyone would've believed me," said Puck. "Quinn's planning on taking the secret to her grave, and, like I said, every single one of the other Glee club members is going along with her."

"Okay guys, we're up!" said Sunshine.

Puck and Lauren walked quietly to the side of the stage and stood with the others, watching as Artie wheeled out of the back door slowly and down the aisle singing:

"_Best thing 'bout tonight's that we're not fighting._  
><em>Could it be that we have been this way before<em>?"

Then Tina stepped out from a different door and began to sing:

"_I know you don't think that I am trying  
>I know you're wearing thin down to the core<em>  
><em>But hold your breath-"<em>

The two began to move closer to each other and Artie resumed singing the song himself as they circled each other slowly in the center of the audience.

"_Because tonight will be the night  
>That I will fall for you<em>  
><em>Over again<em>  
><em>Don't make me change my mind<em>  
><em>Or I won't live to see another day<em>  
><em>I swear it's true<em>  
><em>Because a girl like you is impossible to find<em>  
><em>You're impossible to find<em>"

While the short instrumental part of the music started, Artie and Tina continued circling each other for a split second. Then he grabbed her hand and kissed it, she playfully pulled away and they headed in opposite directions towards opposite sides of the theater. Tina was suddenly beginning to feel like this was much more than just a duet.

"_This is not, what I expected_," sang Artie

"_I always swore to you I'd never fall apart_," sang Tina.

"_You always thought that I was stronger_," sang Artie.

Then in unison, they sang:

"_I may have failed but I have loved you from the start_"

That was when, glancing out from behind stage, Brittney finally began to wonder if she had something to worry about as Artie and Tina both made their way up the ramps on either side of the stage. Then they immediately both began to belt out the last part of the song.

"_Oh, but hold your breath…  
><em>_Because tonight will be the night  
>That I will fall for you<em>  
><em>Over again<em>  
><em>Don't make me change my mind<em>  
><em>Or I won't live to see another day<em>  
><em>I swear it's true<em>"

They both stopped for a moment to catch their breath and somehow ended up starring into each other's eyes. In that moment, the audience and the rest of the world ceased to exist.

"_Because a girl like you is impossible to find_..." sang Artie.

"_You're impossible to find_," sang Tina. And then, without even thinking about it, she leaned down and kissed Artie on the lips as hard as humanly possible. Neither one of them was thinking about the audience until they heard the explosive cheers.

"Mr. Schu?" asked Brittany quietly. "Was that in the choreography?"

"Not that I know of," said Mr. Schu.

Brittany blinked back a few tears as she shook her head. "Now I don't even care that I lost his stupid magic comb."

Mr. Schu looked up in confusion for a moment as Brittany left to go grab Mike to go out on stage together.

As the whole Glee club came out and performed _Valerie_, Rachel couldn't help but think, "Damn, they've gotten almost as good as _Vocal Adrenaline _now." She tried to squash the wave of pride she felt at that realization. She really wasn't supposed to be proud of her competition. Or even think about the individual people who she was competing against. "Eyes on the prize," as Jesse always said. He was giving her enough of a hard time about the fact that she was coming out to support Kurt as it was; although fortunately he wasn't telling the rest of Vocal Adrenaline about it and labeling her a traitor.

As all the teams convened on the stage waiting for their results, it suddenly occurred to Tina to freak out about the fact that she had kissed someone else's boyfriend in front of such a large audience. "Oh my god," she whispered. "Artie, I'm so sorry. I forgot you were dating someone else."

Artie looked up at her and smiled. "Mr. Schu didn't pick that song for us to sing. I did." Then he took her hand and held it as they waited for results.

Rachel kept looking from Kurt to all her old teammates and secretly wanted them both to win, not caring that what she _should_ be hoping for was that the other team would win so that they would have easy competition in case they saw them at Regionals. Rachel got her wish when the judges came out and announced that it was a tie. At the risk of looking like a traitor, she jumped up and cheered.

After the performance, all of New Directions went backstage slapping hi-fives and cheering. Artie and Tina in particular got congratulations from everyone they knew but Brittany, Santana, and Mike. Finn quickly made his way to the Warblers' green room to congratulate Kurt before they had to leave and go back to their own schools. It took him a minute to find his brother in the mix of identically-clad male singers. Finally he spotted him standing in a corner and started walking over when out of nowhere, Rachel pounced into view. Finn froze.

"You did it!" squealed Rachel.

"Yes we did!" said Kurt, grabbing Rachel and hugging her so hard that he was almost squeezing her. "Was I smiling?"

"Hell yeah," said Rachel. "During the second half you looked happier than I've ever seen you in my life."

"I was!" said Kurt. Then he turned and looked up and saw Finn standing there. "Oh, hi!" He began to suddenly get worried when Rachel let go of him and turned around. Crap. These two hadn't seen each other in months.

"Um…" said Finn finally. "Congratulations, Kurt. I guess we'll see you guys at Regionals."

"Yeah," said Kurt. "Tell Mercedes I said hi."

"Will do," said Finn. Then, not wanting to ignore Rachel completely he nodded at her and smiled. Then he walked away quickly.

As soon as Finn was out of earshot, Rachel sighed. "You still love him, don't you?" said Kurt sympathetically.

"You need to understand," said Rachel. "I love Jesse, I really do. But not in any of the same ways." She shut her eyes tight to conceal the tears welling up. "I should've known to give up when you told me they were having a baby in the first place."

"Me too," said Kurt. Then he whispered, "Not to make you jealous or anything but…I've kind of moved on."

Rachel's eyebrows shot up. "Oh?"

"Shh!" said Kurt, who then looked _very_ meaningfully in the direction of the lead singer, Blaine Anderson.

Rachel's jaw dropped as she starred at Blaine for a few seconds. Then she leaned over and whispered in Kurt's ear. "_Go for it_."

"_I plan to_," he whispered back

Finn tried to forget what had just happened as he made his way back to where the rest of New Directions was waiting. It was stupid that he couldn't look at Rachel like a normal person after all this time. Did he still have feelings for her? Probably. But it didn't matter. He and Quinn had a family now. He was reminded of that when he went back and saw that Mrs. Fabray had already returned Lily. "Hey Finn," said Quinn. "Tell me I'm not washed up, will you?"

He starred at her and blinked. How could she even think that? She was sixteen! And she was beautiful. "Of course not," he said. "Where'd that come from?"

"Santana made some dumb comment about how she's taken over my life, you know, head cheerleader dating the quarterback, most popular girl in school?" said Quinn.

"Come here," said Finn, taking Lily out of Quinn's arms and lifting the baby up so that she could kiss her mother on the cheek. "Would you really give this up to be the girl with the boob job and razor blades hidden in her hair?"

Quinn smiled and shook her head. "No."

From a few feet away, Rachel watched as Finn kissed his girlfriend on the forehead and snuggled the baby girl that she knew wasn't really his to his chest. "Guess you have no reason to care who Finn dates anymore now," she said to Kurt. "Does our agreement still stand?"

Kurt smiled. "For the sake of everyone else involved, including you, I'm afraid I've got to hold you to it."

Rachel sighed, knowing he was right.


	4. Someone Special

**Starts in the middle of episode 2.10...**

"Christmas came anyway, coach!"

Sue Sylvester didn't respond as every single one of the teachers came over and handed money to the Glee club. For once, all these singing children with outrageously big smiles on their faces _weren't_ irritating the crap out of her. Maybe it was the fact that she was the one who had caused this to happen or the fact that they didn't actually sound that bad, or maybe it was even-gasp!-the Christmas spirit kicking in.

Nah, that couldn't be it.

"Isn't this the part where we return everything?" said Becky.

"Why the hell would we do that?" said Sue, although she was almost thinking that it was a good idea.

"Haven't you seen the movie?" asked Becky.

"What movie?" said Sue. "Fine, go get the wagon out of my closet."

"Yes, coach," said Becky.

A few minutes later when she came back with the wagon, the Glee kids were done singing and everyone was hugging and smiling. "Now bring it in there," said Sue.

"But coach," said Becky. "_You're _supposed to do it."

Sue was about to ask why, then realized it was obviously because of the movie. "Fine," she said grudgingly. Sue grabbed the handle of the wagon and threw open the door of the teacher's lounge, causing everyone to jump. It was always fun to do that. Then she walked over to where Will and the kids were standing, threw the handle of the wagon down in front of them, causing it to clang as it hit the tile, and marched out of the room followed by the sound of sudden explosive cheers. She slammed the door to the teacher's lounge again on the way out.

"Did your heart grow three sizes?" asked Becky.

"Eh, maybe half a size," said Sue.

All the Glee club members made their way back to the choir room pulling the wagon full of donations. Finn and Quinn walked hand and hand, Quinn looking on suspiciously as Mr. Schu whispered something to every member of the class except for them. By the time they reached the room she was almost ready to demand to know what's going on. "This is awesome," said Finn. "Now we can donate the money and all this stuff."

"Actually, Finn," said Mr. Schu. "The Glee club has something they'd like to say to you and Quinn."

Smiling, Mercedes stepped over. "We'd like to give all the money we just got to you guys-for Lily."

"We know you guys are doing alright paying for bottles and diapers and everything else she needs," said Artie. "But we want her to have something nice for Christmas, too."

"Yeah, come on," said Mike. "Buy her a pony or something."

"Well maybe it wasn't _that_ much money," said Sunshine.

"Okay, a rocking horse then," said Mike.

"Really? She's only seven months old," said Santana.

"It's okay, guys," said Brittany. "We don't need to buy Lily any toys. Santa's going to do it!"

Mr. Schu clapped his hands. "Come on, guys," he said to Finn and Quinn. "What do you say?"

Finn looked at Quinn. She nodded, then he nodded. "We accept." Everyone cheered. "Thanks so much guys!" He and Quinn pulled all of their friends into a group hug. Puck stepped back a couple of feet as he watched all of his friends embrace the couple who had taken his daughter away from him. "Aww, Puck, get in here!" said Sunshine, innocently putting her arm around him and pulling him in. It suddenly occurred to him that she must've never been told either. Puck grudgingly put his arm around Quinn and gave her a quick hug. Lauren glanced at him and rolled her eyes. Then she broke free from the group and left the choir room. Irritated, Puck followed behind

"Why are you following me?" asked Lauren when they got partway down the hall.

"I don't know, why are you judging me?" snapped Puck.

"Because every time something comes up about Lily you get all pouty even though you're not willing to do anything about it," said Lauren.

"Do what?" said Puck. "Walk in there and tell my best friend the last thing he wants to hear in a roomful of people who will deny it until the cows come home? It won't work."

"But you're not even willing to try," said Lauren. "A _real_ man would either make the choice to accept what's happening and move on, or walk in there and take back what's his."

"Hey you know what?" shouted Puck. "I am seriously sick and tired of your attitude right now. How the _hell_ can you know what a "real man" would do in this situation? You don't know what it's like _at all_! And I'll be honest, this constant judgment is really making me really regret getting you into Glee club. If you don't knock it off I swear I will make every single kid at this school audition until I can find somebody good enough to replace you, it'll be a pain in the ass, but trust me, I can do it!"

Lauren smiled. "You know what?"

"_What_?" said Puck.

"I kinda like this side of you," said Lauren. Then before Puck could do anything to stop it, she yanked him into a kiss

* * *

><p>In the evening on Christmas Day, Rachel and Jesse went out caroling with some of the other members of Vocal Adrenaline. "Are you sure this is right?" asked one member. "We're not <em>really<em> out caroling to spread Christmas cheer, we're looking for support. Aren't we supposed to be selfless today?"

"We'll stop by the homeless shelter on the way home and sing there too, that way we'll have done one selfless thing, how's that?" said Jesse.

"Excellent," said Rachel. "Let's do two more blocks before that and then call it a night."

"Sounds like a plan," said Jesse. Walking at the head of the pack, he put his arm around Rachel and pulled her close to him. Then he leaned over and whispered "You're sure that Shelby won't mind you coming over tonight?"

"Of course not," said Rachel. "I've spent most of the day with her already."

In response Jesse smiled and began singing. "_Outside the snow is falling and our friends are a-calling yoo hoo_."

Rachel and all he other members joined in as they made their way up to someone's porch. "_Come on, it's lovely whether for a sleigh-ride together with you!_"

It was then that Rachel happened to glance across the street and realized that she was looking at Burt and Carole's house. "I'm gonna go see if those people are home," she whispered, kissing Jesse on the cheek. Then she ran across the street over to the house hoping Kurt was there and she could wish him a merry Christmas. Secretly she wished she could ask him to join them, but Jesse and the others would never go for that.

Quietly, Rachel dashed up the walk to her friend's house through the snow, but she froze when she got close. She could see them all together in the living room through a large window. Burt and Carole were snuggled together on the sofa in front of the fireplace with a beautiful Christmas tree nearby. Finn and Quinn both sat right by the Christmas tree, Finn unwrapping a massive present and Quinn with Lily on her lap. When Finn pulled aside enough of the wrapping paper to reveal a large baby bouncer, Quinn's face lit up as she clapped Lily's tiny hands together. Then Kurt stepped into view, knelt down, and started talking pictures of them with the present and then another two of just Finn, Quinn, and Lily laughing and smiling together. Then Kurt said something and Finn and Quinn nodded and stood up. Quinn walked over to the sofa and set Lily down in Carole's lap to grope, pull, and chew the large buttons on her sweater. Burt stroked Lily's fuzzy black hair with one hand while keeping his other arm around Carole. Meanwhile Quinn walked over to Finn and he pulled her into a sweet kiss under the mistletoe as Kurt snapped another picture.

Blinking tears back form her eyes, Rachel bolted from the yard before anyone could see her. A million thoughts ran through her head. _Why her? Of all the girls Finn had to end up with…why Quinn Fabray? I mean, I know it's because he thinks he's Lily's father, but how does he love her…that slut, enough to believe such a ridiculous story? Was it just because she's so much prettier than I am? Or am I really that horrible? I don't think I ever did anything to him._

"Are they home?" asked Jesse as she got closer.

Rachel shook her head. "Nope," she said, forcing a smile. _The show must go on._ Then she took Jesse's hand. "_Last Christmas, I gave you my heart, and the very next day…"_

"_You gave it away_," said Jesse.

"_This year, to save me from tears_," they sang together. "_I'll give it to someone special_."

On the last two words, Rachel couldn't help but glance over at the house she knew Finn and Quinn were with their perfect family and "their" perfect baby. _Forget it, Rachel,_ she told herself. _He doesn't want me._ _I'll bet he even knows now that Lily isn't his and doesn't care. He loves Quinn too much._

And she sang the rest of the some more passionately than ever, forcing herself to make Jesse her someone special. After they finished their caroling, she went over to his house and they snuggled on the couch watching It's A Wonderful Life and drinking hot cocoa. Then they spent fifteen minutes making out until they heard Jesse's dad's car pull up in the driveway and finally kissed goodnight. Rachel snuck out the back door and walked home, part of her wishing that she had never even met Finn Hudson, because she knew that her evening would have been a lot more perfect than it was if she hasn't.


	5. Daddy

Quinn sat facing the back of the choir room changing Lily's diaper using Finn's legs as a changing table. Vaguely she heard Sam, Puck, Artie, and Mike complaining to Mr. Schu that they wouldn't be able to play in the football game and how Brittany and Santana weren't rebelling enough against Sue about something and a bunch of other random crap while meanwhile Quinn was stressing about finding a permanent babysitter for Lily. Carole watched her during the day on Thursdays now and worked on Saturdays, but the rest of the week had to be played by ear. Burt would take her into the auto shop with him if it was a slow day, Quinn hated imposing that on him but for some reason he loved it. Mercedes's mom was willing to babysit at least once a week, too. So were Rachel's dads and Sunshine's mom, even though neither Rachel or Sunshine had ever gotten along with Quinn particularly well. The fact was, Lily was impossible not to love. For most people, anyway. The only person who refused to acknowledge that she even existed was her own Grandpa Fabray. Quinn's mom could only babysit if she could do it without him finding out, a fact that alone made Quinn want to avoid ever having Lily around her mother. What kind of a grandma was too cowardly to admit to her husband that she was spending time with their own grandchild?

"I know what to do," said Lauren suddenly standing up. "You still have four guys on the football team, right?"

"Yeah," said Puck.

"Now you have five," said Lauren. "I'm joining."

Puck's eyes practically lit up. "All right!"

Mercedes and Tina looked at each other. "What if we go out on the field too, but we don't do anything?" said Tina.

"We could try," said Mercedes.

"Oh, that sounds dangerous! Are you sure?" said Sunshine.

"We'll just be laying down," said Mercedes. "What do you say, boys?"

"I'm game," said Sam.

"Well, if we're just laying down, I guess I could, too," said Sunshine.

"Awesome," said Artie. "That makes one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight." His phone buzzed, and he read the text he'd just gotten. "Nine. That reporter dweeb will do it if he thinks he has a shot of getting into Sunshine's pants."

"He wants to steal my pants?" asked Sunshine with genuine innocence.

"Yeah, something like that," said Mercedes. "I think he must have a thing for short girls."

"One more of the guys just agreed to join," said Sam after checking his own phone. "That makes ten."

And suddenly, all eyes were on Finn. Quinn looked up. She could tell from the look on his face that even though she and Lily were his priority, he would die to have just one more chance out on the field. She understood. She secretly wished she could be on the cheerios again for just one more day. But that was impossible. Her body still hadn't bounced back from being pregnant, for one.

"Go for it," whispered Quinn as she picked up Lily and held her close.

Finn's face lit up. "I'm in, guys!"

Everyone cheered. "Are you sure?" asked Mercedes.

"He is," said Quinn, patting his chest. "You guys should go tell the Bieste what you're planning on doing."

"I'm still the quarterback, right?" said Sam.

"Of course," said Finn. He didn't need to be the quarterback. Just _playing _one more time was enough.

* * *

><p>"Rachel, I'm wondering," said Blaine. "Did you really come along to hang out with us, or to look at random hot guys with big muscles?"<p>

"Haha," said Kurt. "She has a boyfriend, you know that."

"Yes I do," said Rachel, flashing Kurt a grateful smile for apparently not having disclosed her feelings for Finn. "I love hanging out with you guys. It's so nice being around people who aren't _obsessed _with winning for once."

"Oh my gosh, Ms. Vocal Adrenaline diva," said Blaine, pretending to be horrified. "Are you implying that we don't take ourselves _seriously_ enough for you?"

Rachel starred for a moment to make sure that he wasn't being serious. Then all three of them burst out laughing.

Rachel felt just a little homesick as she starred at the Glee girls right there with the guys getting ready to play the game of their lives. As sweet and energetic as the Warblers were, their team spirit was _nothing _compared to New Directions. Kurt knew that as well. He and Rachel glanced at each other and smiled sadly, both missing the same thing. Then he suddenly realized that Blaine had insisted on sitting at the end of the bleachers, leaving Rachel between himself and Kurt. Rachel looked at him as if to say "Want me to move over?" but Kurt shook his head. He and Blaine would get together soon enough if they were meant to be. He'd learned the hard way that there was no point in trying to force it.

"Hey, Kurt!" called Quinn. Everyone looked at her. She was looking exceptionally gorgeous with a purple winter jacket and a purple beret and with every blonde curl somehow tucked into place. She also held Lily in her carrier. Then she suddenly froze when she realized that Rachel was there, too. Rachel looked away. Quinn sat down quietly next to Kurt, placing the baby carrier between them to distance herself from the girl she was still surprised hadn't ruined her life by now.

The first half of the game went by in a big blur. Kurt tried to explain to Rachel what was going on, but all she could manage to understand was that somebody stood there belting out a bunch of numbers and eventually the ball got thrown and everyone would beat each other up trying to get it, what kind of a pathetic game was this, anyway?

"Are we the home team or the away team?" asked Rachel at halftime when it occurred to her to look at the scoreboard.

"We're the one getting clobbered," Kurt answered.

"I'd better go make sure Finn's alright," said Quinn. "Keep an eye on Lily, will you Kurt?"

"Sure," he said. Then he smiled at Rachel. "I'm the one who picks out her clothes. Can you tell?"

Rachel looked at the eight-month-old in her red velvet dress and maryjanes and had to smile. "Yeah." For the first time ever, she took a good look at the baby. "She looks _exactly_ like Quinn," Rachel marveled. "Only with her daddy's hair."

"Isn't Finn's hair longer than that?" asked Blaine.

Kurt and Rachel both turned and gave him the look. "She's _a baby_!"

"I know!" said Blaine.

Suddenly Rachel realize that Blaine had just effectively referred to Finn as Lily's dad. She turned and shot Kurt a surprised look. "He doesn't know?" she mouthed. Kurt shook his head. _Wow_, thought Rachel. _When he said that we wouldn't ever say one word about the truth, he wasn't kidding!_Fortunately, she hadn't told anyone. Not even Jesse. But that was mostly because she didn't want him to start getting worried that something would ever happen between her and Finn.

Meanwhile, Quinn dashed back in the direction of the locker room and screamed when a blonde zombie stepped out and hissed at her. "Easy, Q, it's just me," said Sam with a chuckle.

"Not funny," said Quinn. "I'm looking for Finn."

"He went to go rescue Santana and Brittany from that cannon," said Sam.

"_What_?" said Quinn, getting more confused by the second.

"Sue's idea, of course," said Sam. "Finn's amazing. He's making me feel like a lame quarterback."

Quinn smiled. "Well, you _did_ score the first point today."

"But you should've seen him in that locker room rallying all those other football players," Sam insisted. "He was like another coach or something. He actually managed to get everyone but Karofsky back on the team _and_ willing to do the halftime show."

"Really?" said Quinn. "Are you serious? And here I came over to make sure that he was alright after the way you guys got clobbered."

"Well like I said, he's not here right now, but he's definitely more than okay," said Sam. "He's a lucky guy though." Quinn smiled. "My girlfriend isn't even here."

"She is now!" said Santana, marching in followed by Brittany and Finn, who's face was green.

"You ready yet?" asked one of the other players as he leapt out of the locker room and hissed at Brittany and Santana, causing them to jump.

"Would somebody mind explaining to me why you're all suddenly zombi-fied?" asked Quinn.

"You'll see," said Finn with a frightening zombie smile. "Just go sit out there and watch. But if Lily's awake, you might need to cover her eyes."

Too afraid to ask what they were about to do, Quinn turned and went to go sit back out on the bleachers. When she got there she saw that Lily was awake and Kurt had gotten her out. Quinn sat down and discreetly got out a blanket to cover herself and started nursing Lily. Fortunately, that meant her head was covered when all the football players and Santana and Brittany came out and started singing their Thriller/Heads Will Roll mashup.

"Quinn, why are you laughing?" said Kurt. "This is amazing!"

"I'm not laughing at what they're doing, believe me!" said Quinn. She was actually laughing because she was so amazed that Finn had actually gotten the football team to do this show.

"They're actually going to play the game in their zombie makeup?" asked Blaine when the football players all came back out.

"That's insane," said Rachel.

"No, it's brilliant!" said Kurt. "Can you imagine how much it would throw you off your game if you were out there and the other guy came at you hissing like a zombie with that makeup on? It would be like if you got up on stage at Regionals and suddenly found out that the _only _songs you were allowed to sing were screamo."

"Eww, don't even say that!" said Rachel.

"Oh my god!" Quinn squealed.

"Woohoo!" said Kurt.

"What?" said Rachel.

"Finn just scored a touchdown," Kurt explained.

"What's that?" said Rachel.

"It's when they score a point," said Kurt. "Wow, you really don't know _anything_ about this game."

"Look, Lily!" said Quinn, removing the blanket from her daughter's head and propping her up on her leg. "Look what your daddy just did!"

Rachel looked at them and bit her lip.

A few minutes later, something happened that caused everyone to start cheering again. "Yay! Your Daddy did it, Lillian!"

More cheering. "Yay! That's him, that's your daddy!"

"That's your daddy, Lily!"

"That's him! That's your Daddy!"

By the end of the game, Kurt had his hand on top of Rachel's trying to keep her calm. He could tell by the look in her eyes that she was ready to pounce. He tightened his grip when the other football players lifted Finn up on their shoulders and Quinn jumped up snuggling Lily and yelled, "THAT'S MY BABY'S DADDY!" And it wasn't lost on either Kurt on Rachel that right after she said that, Puck darted off the field.

Forgetting the baby carrier, Quinn ran down the steps of the bleachers with Lily in her arms and out onto the field. As soon as Finn saw them he pulled them both into his arms and gave Quinn a peck on the lips, getting a bit of his blood red lipstick on her mouth. Lily reached her little hands out to Finn, apparently not even caring that he looked like a zombie.

"Don't you think he needs to know?" whispered Rachel, still sitting on the bleachers with Kurt.

"I'm not sure," said Kurt. At this point, he was almost beginning to regret the fact that he'd kept the truth from Finn. For one thing, as his ex-crush he may have had no business telling him, but as his brother he really had no business not telling him. For another thing, with the entire Glee club, Quinn, and Puck himself knowing, Kurt had expected it to be a few weeks or at most months before Finn found out. Not long enough for the baby to actually be born and become his daughter in every non-biological way possible. "I don't think he'd even want to know."

* * *

><p>"I'm wondering, Finn, do you know?" shouted Puck. "Do you know what she's doing? Do you know what YOU'VE TAKEN AWAY FROM ME?"<p>

His voice echoed off of the walls of the empty locker room as his fist landed on the door of Finn's locker, leaving a small dent. Ow, that hurt. He marched into the closet and grabbed out an old brown punching bag that hadn't been used in so long that it was coated with dust. "Aaaaaaaargh!" screamed Puck and he threw the punching bag against one locker, then another, then another.

"Damn you, Quinn! Fuck you! Why did you think it was okay to take my baby away from me? Why? Why?" That's when the punching bag landed on the floor and Puck punched it as hard as he could, falling down on top of it in the process, coughing from the dust that exploded in his face.

"_So_ not attractive."

Lauren's voice shook Puck enough for him to look up and then pick himself up off the floor. "You don't understand," he said. "That's _my_ baby."

"I KNOW," Lauren shouted. "And Finn thinks he's hers and you feel free to whine about it nonstop while simultaneously don't absolutely nothing about it. And _you_ don't feel like you can, but the fact is that you can't NOT because this is taking over your life and you're thinking about her all the time. We have had this conversation over a thousand times. It's getting old. It's getting _boring_."

She marched up closer to Puck, leaned in, and whispered, "And it's getting _pathetic_."

Puck just blinked as Lauren took a step back and planted her hands on her hips. "You have two choices: you can either man up and show Finn and Quinn who's boss, or we're through."


	6. The Truth

"Isn't this perfect?" said Jesse. "We get to have a romantic dinner _and_ scope out the competition!"

Rachel bit her lip. She was thinking something more along the lines of "they got to have a romantic dinner and listen to the Warblers sing". But she just smiled.

"Happy Valentine's Day," said Jesse, leaning across the table and giving his girlfriend a kiss. Then he subtly fastened a necklace around her neck. Rachel gasped when she looked down and saw that he'd given her a gold star necklace. "Because you're our star," he whispered. In response, she kissed him again.

"Hey guys, are you ready to order?" asked Sunshine, walking up to the table in her tiny uniform.

"Sunshine! You're working here?" said Rachel.

"Isn't she your replacement on New Directions?" said Jesse.

"Kind of," mumbled Rachel. Oddly enough it hurt to think of her old teammates "replacing" her, even though she was the one who had left them.

"Yeah, I needed some money to pay for extra singing lessons, it can't hurt to improve my voice even though I am already a better singer than everyone else in the Glee club," said Sunshine. "Certainly way better than them," she motioned to Artie and Tina sitting at a table nearby sharing a heart-shaped slice of chocolate cake. "And _definitely _better than any of them."

Rachel was surprised when she glanced at a nearby table and saw Brittany, Mike, Mercedes, Santana, and Sam all sitting together. "Brittany and Mike aren't dating, are they?" asked Rachel.

"Nah," said Sunshine. "Just friends."

"Why the hell is Santana holding an icepack to that blonde guy's lips?" asked Jesse.

"He kissed every girl in the whole school to raise money for Glee club," said Sunshine. Then she leaned and whispered to Rachel, "Don't do it. He'll put his mouth over your whole face without even realizing it."

Just then, Finn and Quinn walked into Breadsicks and asked for a table. "What are they doing here?" asked Rachel.

Sunshine looked at Rachel. "Having dinner, _obviously_."

Finn and Quinn sat down in the booth across from Puck and Lauren. "I can't believe that your mom agreed to babysit on Valentine's Day," said Quinn.

"I think she and Burt are too tired to do anything anyway," said Finn. "I feel kind of bad for them working overtime the way they are for us and Kurt."

"You too," remarked Quinn. "This is the first night you've had off this week."

"I'm gonna try and see if Burt will hire me to work in the shop with him from now on," said Finn. "It's awkward pretending that I don't have the use of my legs in order to go to work every day."

"And dishonest," said Quinn.

"Yeah," said Finn. "I never would have done that if it wasn't for Lily."

Quinn smiled. "I know."

At their table, Lauren leaned across and whispered to Puck. "_Now's the time_."

At the front of the room, Kurt tapped the microphone. "Testing, one, two, three…"

"_After the song_," Puck whispered back.

"Sooo, happy Valentine's Day everybody," said Kurt.

"_Isn't it a little wrong to do this today_?" said Puck.

"_Don't you even think about wimping out on me_!" Lauren hissed. "_And more importantly, yourself. You've put this off long enough_."

Puck sighed and nodded to himself. "_You're right. I can do this. Quinn took my daughter away from me for god sakes, I can make her boyfriend hate her on Valentine's Day_." Lauren smiled at him, and he grinned back, not willing to admit to himself that he felt nervous about this.

"Whether you are single with hope, or madly in love and are here because I forced you to come out and support me," said Kurt, "Sit back and enjoy. And to all the singles out there…this is why we're here."

Moments later, Blaine and the Warblers' amazing voices began to fill the restaurant with happiness. Sunshine stopped working so that she could watch. Artie and Tina were smiling and holding hands as were Finn and Quinn. Santana removed the ice pack from Sam's lips just long enough to give him a quick kiss. Rachel starred at Blaine and realized with happiness that he was glancing at Kurt way more often than necessary. Jesse was starring at Blaine wondering how he could make sure that his voice stayed more impressive than his. At the end of the song, the whole room errupted into cheers. That was the exact moment that Puck bolted up out of his seat and stormed over to Finn and Quinn's booth. This was it.

"I'm Lily's father."

In that instant, the entire restaurant fell dead silent. "Puck, that's not funny," said Quinn sweetly.

"No, it's not," shouted Puck. "That's why I wouldn't say it if we didn't both know it was true."

"That's impossible," said Finn. "Quinn and I were dating for _months _before she got pregnant."

"Well _she cheated on you_, moron!" shouted Puck.

"That's a _lie_!" shrieked Quinn.

"Puck, shut up," snapped Finn. "I mean it. It's not funny and everybody's starring at us."

"So what?" said Puck. "Most of them already know anyway."

"There's _nothing_ to know!" yelled Quinn. "I don't know what the _hell_ his problem is, Finn!"

"By the way, I'm wondering," said Puck, leaning onto the table and looking right into Quinn's eyes. "Did you two _ever_ have sex? If you did, then _Finn _could probably tell me if you ever fixed that inverted nipple after you started nursing."

Finn blinked. "How did you know that she used to have an inverted nipple?"

"I'm sure he just heard me talking to you about it at some point," said Quinn quickly, although she didn't really think they'd ever had a reason to discuss it outside of her doctor's office or their bedroom.

"Really, Quinn?" said Puck. "How often do you talk about that egg-shaped birthmark you have on the left cheek of your ass?"

That was it. Finn's chair fell to the floor as he jumped up and tackled Puck to the ground. The next two minutes ran in a blur of flying punches and horrified gasps from everyone in the room until Finn was suddenly yanked off of Puck by Sam and Blaine. "Finn, get off!" yelled Kurt, stepping in to try and keep it from getting any worse than it already was.

"Is it true?" hollered Finn. "Did she really lie to me?"

"Hey, hey, what's going on?" asked the restaurant manager coming out of his office.

"This guy just walked up and sucker punched me!" said Puck, suddenly looking relatively calm and unthreatening.

"No, that's not true!" yelled Finn. "They're lying!"

The manager walked over to Finn and put a hand on his shoulder. "Look, just calm down."

"No!" said Finn. "I want to hear it from you!" He pointed an accusing finger at Quinn.

"Am I gonna have to call the police?" asked the manager.

"No," said Finn. He stopped struggling against Sam and Blaine until they let go of him, but kept his eyes on Quinn, who was crying. "Is it true?" he asked her. "Just tell me…is it true?"

Quinn stood up from her seat shakily and looked away from him as she nodded tearfully. "Yes," she whispered. "Puck was her father."

At that point, Finn was too stunned to be angry. He just shook his head to himself. "All that stuff in the hot tub…you set that up?"

"Yeah, well you were stupid enough to buy it!" said Puck.

Finn whipped around and nearly punched him again put Quinn put a hand on his shoulder and stopped him. "I'm…I'm so sorry," she whispered.

Finn's eyes hardened. "Let's just get the hell out of here," he said, taking out a hundred dollar bill and handing it to the manager. "Keep the change," he mumbled before proceeding to exit the restaurant vaguely aware that Quinn was following behind him. His mind was reeling, refusing to accept the fact that Quinn had cheated on him at all, let alone that the baby girl he'd been caring for for the last eight months was…_Puck's_ biological daughter? Even thinking the words felt surreal.

"Let's get out of here," said Tina.

"I agree," said Artie, counting out the money that they would need to pay for their meal. All of their friends did the same thing at their own tables, including Jesse and Rachel.

"Thanks for coming, everyone," said Kurt.

"No problem," said Tina. "The show was amazing."

"Yeah, it was," said Mercedes. Everyone else agreed.

Meanwhile, Puck walked back over to Lauren at their table. She smiled before he even said anything. "That was the best Valentine's Day present anyone has ever given me."

Puck grinned. "You know what would be the best Valentine's Day present you could give me?"

Lauren grinned. "Let's finish our dinner first." The two of them quietly sat down to finish their Valentine's Day meal, complete with two massive slices of chocolate cake, before heading back to Puck's house. They snuck past his mom's bedroom and into his, where the wildest night of both of their lives commenced.

Finn and Quinn entered the house the same way they'd been the entire way home, tears streaming down their faces, not saying anything. As soon as they got inside, Finn said, "You're sleeping on the couch tonight." Quinn didn't argue, she just followed him into their bedroom to change into her pajamas. Both of them realized it would be best not to say much to each other that night. Lily was in her crib already asleep, giving them the perfect excuse to be silent.

Meanwhile, Jesse drove Rachel home after they paid for their food. "What's with the bizarre smile on your face?" said Jesse. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Rachel doubted it, but she just looked at him and let her smile grow a little wider. "Depends what you're thinking."

Jesse's face lit up. "That New Directions may just not be able to survive this mess."

Rachel laughed at just how wrong he was. "Exactly!" she lied.

Jesse grinned. "Good girl, Rachel. You're finally learning how to think like a real diva."

He leaned over and kissed her goodnight.

As soon as Rachel got upstairs to her room, she laid down on her bed and closed her eyes. In her imagination, Finn had broken up with Quinn and run over as fast as he could. He had somehow gotten past Shelby and into Rachel's bedroom, maybe by climbing up through the window. He was singing "Jesse's girl" and then getting down on his knees begging her to come back to New Directions and break up with Jesse. Then he reached down and pulled a tiny box out of his pocket. He opened it, there was a diamond ring inside…

Rachel opened her eyes, sat up, and smacked herself on the forehead. No. She was with Jesse now, and Finn obviously had way bigger things on his mind but her at the moment.

Although…maybe someday…

About four hours later, Finn was woken up by the sound of Lily crying quietly. Knowing that Quinn wouldn't be able to hear her anyway, he sighed and got up. He lifted her into his arms, the fact that she had actually gotten her black hair from Puck suddenly occurring to him. It disgusted him. "Shh…it's okay…" he whispered. Lily continued to cry and look at him expectantly. He realized that there was only one thing he could do to calm her down, took her over to their rocking chair, sat down, and began to sing.

"_Oh, why you look so sad?_  
><em>Tears are in your eyes<br>__Come on and come to me now_  
><em>When the night falls on you<em>  
><em>You don't know what to do<em>  
><em>Nothing you confess<em>  
><em>Could make me love you less<em>"

And that was the moment that Finn realized that no matter what happened from here or how Quinn and Puck had deceived him, there was no way around the fact that Lily was his daughter.


	7. Breakdown

Finn's eyelids fluttered when the light to his bedroom switched on, blinding him once he opened them all the way. After blinking a few more times he saw Quinn in the doorway wearing nothing but a pink bathrobe, eyes red from crying, hair disheveled, just standing there. Finn felt something heavy on his chest and realized it was Lily. Quinn quietly stepped all the way into the room and closed the door behind her, looking slightly afraid to come any closer to them. As soon as Finn tried to figure out why he had fallen asleep in the rocking chair, the events of the previous night came flooding back and hit him like a slap in the face. His eyes instantly locked on Quinn's and snapped into a glare. Lily opened her own eyes and started fussing. "She's hungry," whispered Quinn. Cautiously she walked over, took Lily in her arms, sat down on the edge of the double bed, and tucked the baby's little head into the inside of her bathrobe to nurse.

Finn couldn't say anything. He was still trying to grasp the truth. Part of him didn't even want to.

"Seeing you there, in the rocking chair, sleeping with her…" said Quinn. She gulped. "Do you think _Puck_ would have ever done that?"

Finn just kept starring at her.

"Do you think that he would've taken me to live with him?" said Quinn. "Or gotten a real job, or held my hand at the doctor's office, or sang to her when she cried, or changed her diapers?" Quinn shook her head tearfully. "Maybe half of that, if I was lucky. There's no way in hell he'd have been around this much. Don't you think any girl would have chosen you as her baby's father over him?"

Finn could see her point, but at the same time, every word she said was just making him more and more angry.

"You lied to me."

"I did it for her, Finn," Quinn whispered. Then she looked up at him, eyes pleading for some sort of a reaction. After a minute Finn stood up.

"I need to get some air," he mumbled, standing up and pulling his jacket on over his shoulders. Then without looking at either Quinn or Lily, he exited the room.

Moments after Finn was out in the hall, Kurt stepped out of he bathroom. "Hey, how are you doing?" he asked.

Finn sighed. "More shocked and confused than anything."

"I understand," said Kurt. "I'm here if you need anything."

"Thanks," said Finn. He smiled quickly and then headed towards the front door.

"And just so you know," said Kurt. "The only reason I didn't say anything before is because it seemed like it would've just been selfish, considering how I felt about you at the time. I didn't realize it would end up like this. I should've thought it through better."

Finn froze. Then he turned around. "You knew about this?"

"Yeah," Kurt confessed. "Me, Rachel, Mercedes, Tina, Artie, Brittany, Santana, Mike, and of course Puck and Lauren."

Finn just blinked, tears forming in his eyes. "How could you all _not _tell me this? Especially you." Finn shook his head. "I thought we were brothers."

"We are now," said Kurt. "It's just that at the time, you know, like I said."

"What, just because you had a _crush_ on me you stupid fag?" roared Finn. Turning so quickly he didn't even see the look on Kurt's face, he marched down the hall, kicked over a random chair, and stormed out of the house.

A short while later, Quinn was still sitting on her bed crying, now burping a very fussy Lily. "Come on, Drizzle, it's okay." she crooned tearfully as she patted the baby's back. She froze for a second when she realized what she had just called the baby. Drizzle. She and Finn had fought for a week over that name. When Carole realized what was going on she had talked Finn out of it, which was mainly why Quinn had ended up choosing Carole for the baby's middle name. The Glee club had suggested the name Lillian after the person who had started the first ever Glee club at William McKinley. And Finn was the one who had suggested that they call her Lily.

Quinn's heart leapt when she heard a knock on the door, then it sank again when she realized that Finn would never knock on the door to his own bedroom. "Come in," she said, quickly wiping the tears from her eyes with her sleeve.

Carole Hummel walked in. "Hey," she said. "Do you know what happened? I heard Finn and Kurt shouting and now I can't find either of them."

"I have no idea," said Quinn. "They probably had a fight."

Carole sighed. "I figured." Then she suddenly noticed Quinn's red eyes and looked concerned. "Are you okay, honey?"

Quinn nodded. "Just tired," she lied. "Do you think Finn and Kurt will make up soon?"

"I don't know," said Carole. She sat down on the bed next to Quinn. "Funny thing about Finn is that if he loves you, he loves you forever. But if he feels like he can't trust you anymore, it's all over." She looked thoughtful for a moment. "But I don't think Kurt would ever do anything to upset him that much." She smiled. "How's my granddaughter this morning?"

Quinn gulped. "Fussy. Thanks for babysitting last night."

"No problem," said Carole. "She was an angel. How was your dinner?"

"Lovely," whispered Quinn. All she could think about now was the fact that Finn would now undoubtedly never trust her again as long as he lived. And she couldn't blame him.

"Hey, Carole?" shouted Burt from the hallway.

"I'd better go see what's going on," said Carole. "Get some rest, honey." She patted Quinn's shoulder as she stood up and left the room.

* * *

><p>By the time Finn had realized how far he had walked down the road, he was three miles away from home. He didn't even care until he started to get hungry and realized he hadn't brought a snack with him. Then he just sat down at the side of the highway and buried his head and his hands.<p>

"Quinn cheated on me. Lily's not mine." Finn started to tear up even though the words he had just said felt like they were coming from somebody else. Everything that he'd thought was or ever would be had been destroyed. The fact that he still cared just as much about Lily didn't change the fact that his life with Quinn had been built on lies. That's when he started really crying. He realized that the last time he had cried this hard was after Quinn had told him she was pregnant in the first place. Who knew that finding out that he wasn't technically a father after all would be even more devastating?

Finn looked up with a start when he heard a horn honking and nearly pinched himself when he recognized Mr. Schu's car. Slowly he got up, walked over and got into the car.

"Where are you headed, Finn?" asked. Mr. Schu.

"Home, I guess," mumbled Finn.

"I heard about your fight with Puck at Breadsticks the other night," said Mr. Schu. "Is that all that's troubling you?"

Finn sighed. Mr. Schu obviously hadn't heard what the fight was about. "Puck's Lily's biological father."

Mr. Schu blinked. "_What_?"

"Don't tell anyone," said Finn. "Most of the Glee club already knows, but I doubt the rest of the school does."

"Are…are you sure about this?" said Mr. Schu. "Have you gotten a DNA test yet?"

"Don't need one," said Finn. "There was only one night that it would have been even remotely possible for me and Quinn to get pregnant, and it turned out to be a setup."

Mr. Schu shook his head in disbelief. "Wow."

They drove most of the way in silence until Mr. Schu finally said. "Did you throw Quinn out?"

"Not yet," said Finn.

Mr. Schu nodded. "Just remember one thing. Right now, the most vulnerable person in this situation the one who never did anything wrong. Whatever you do next, be sure to keep her in mind."

"Of course," said Finn.

They pulled up to the Hudson/Hummel house a few seconds later. Finn took a deep breath. "Want me to go in with you?" asked Mr. Schu.

"No thanks," said Finn. "I got this."

As Finn made his way up the walkway to his house, he tried to think about what he was going to do next. He didn't expect to be nailed to the wall within seconds of entering his own house.

"What the _hell_ is wrong with you?" shouted Burt.

"Huh?" said Finn.

"Oh, don't you give me that!" said Burt. "I know what you did!"

"Burt, don't!" cried Carole, bursting out of the kitchen.

"What's going on?" asked Quinn, stepping out into the hall with Lily on her hip.

"Stay out of this!" snapped Burt. Then he turned back to Finn. "Would you call Kurt the N-word if he was black? Would you call him a retard if he had Down's Syndrome like that girl on the Cheerios?"

"No, of course not!" said Finn.

"But somehow _you _think it's okay to call him a fag?" asked Burt. "To tell him that it's _not_ okay to be who he is because of his sexuality?"

"The reason I'm mad at Kurt has _nothing_ to do with his sexuality," said Finn. "I don't even know why I…"

"The _hell_ it doesn't," said Burt. "And now he's gone. He left a damn note for me in the tire shop and disappeared. You've driven him out of his house. You're no better than that sonofabitch Karofsky."

"I'm mad at Kurt because he knew Quinn cheated on me and he didn't tell me!" Finn blurted out.

Burt starred at Finn for a moment. Then he released his grip on the younger man, stepped back, and suddenly all eyes were on Quinn. "When did it happen?" asked Carole softly.

Quinn didn't say anything. "Couple of months before Lily was born," Finn lied. He didn't want his mom knowing that Lily wasn't her real granddaughter, surely it would break her heart as much as his at this point. "I'm really sorry about what I said to Kurt. But I'm still not ready to forgive him. Or anyone." Finn paused to glare at Quinn for a few seconds and then headed upstairs.

* * *

><p>"He <em>actually<em> said that to you? What the hell?" said Rachel. She leaned over and put her arms around Kurt, who was sitting on her bed.

"I don't know," said Kurt. "Maybe I should've let you talk me out of that stupid deal."

"Who knows?" said Rachel. The truth was, she was annoyed enough at Finn right now to question whether or not she was better off with Jesse after all. "Even if we made a mistake, it doesn't excuse him talking to you like that. You can stay here as long as you like. Shelby won't mind as long as she doesn't think you're spying."

"Thanks, Rachel," said Kurt. "Is it possible for me to be alone for a while?"

"Of course," said Rachel. "Jesse and I need to go rehearse anyway. I just need a few minutes to get ready."

"Thanks," said Kurt. He laid down on Rachel's bed as she sat down at her vanity table to fix her makeup. By the time she was finished, he had fallen asleep.

"Hey," said Jesse, opening the bedroom door. "Ms. Corcoran let me…" He froze when he saw Kurt on Rachel's bed.

"He needed somewhere to stay," she explained.

"How very generous of you," said Jesse coldly. "I'll bet you'll keep him real warm at night."

"Jesse!" said Rachel. "He's gay!"

"That makes it even worse," said Jesse.

"No, that means he's not even remotely attracted to me," said Rachel, who could hardly believe she was even having to say that. "_Nothing_ is ever going to happen between us!"

"Fine then," said Jesse. "Then when's something finally going to happen between _us_?"

Rachel gulped. "When I'm ready."

"I've been waiting over a year for you to be ready," said Jesse. "I understood when you chickened out last time, but enough is enough!"

"Do we really need to talk about this now?" said Rachel. "We're supposed to be rehearsing."

Jesse sighed. "Fine." But both of them knew that the conversation wasn't over.


	8. Blame It On The Alcohol part 1

**Warning: may contain mildly explicit content**

It had been three days now that Kurt had been staying with Rachel, and she'd spent the whole time feeling completely and utterly helpless as to what to do to fix things between him and Finn, or her and Jesse, or the whole situation. It wasn't until her dads called her to say goodbye and told her they were leaving on a weeklong trip that she realized exactly what would make everything right again.

"I'll break in using the house key they gave me to feed their fish and we throw a _huge_ party in the basement and invite all of New Directions!"

"Are you sure about that, Rachel?" said Kurt. "I kept Quinn's secret from Finn for over a year and he called me a stupid fag, somehow I doubt a _party_ is going to fix things between us."

"It will when we all play celebrity together," said Rachel. "You'll see!"

Kurt frowned. "I don't think that's the kind of partying that most of the gang would have in mind."

"Tell you what," said Rachel. "I'll let everyone bring a date-you can ask Blaine, obviously-and…" She lowered her voice. "I'll serve everybody _two wine coolers_!"

Kurt smiled. "Let's go for it!" He was pretty sure that the party would end up being a bust, but at the very least it would give him an excuse to hang out with Blaine.

"Great!" squealed Rachel. "I'll go invite everyone." She immediately pulled out her phone and dialed Finn's number.

"Hello?"

"Hey Finn, it's Rachel."

"Hi," he said, obviously surprised to hear her voice. "What's going on?"

"I was wondering if you'd like to come to a party I'm having at my Dads' house," said Rachel.

"It's really sweet of you to invite me, but I'm not in a partying mood right now," said Finn.

"I understand," said Rachel, the disappointment evident in her voice. "How are you doing?"

Finn sighed. "Not great. Burt still hates me even though he's not saying it, Mom doesn't know what to think about me _or _Quinn, Quinn and I are like strangers sharing a baby and a bedroom, and I don't know _where _the hell Kurt is."

"Kurt's okay," said Rachel. She and Finn were both surprised by how comfortable they were with him telling her all that stuff when they'd barely spoken since she left New Directions. "I shouldn't tell you where he is, but he's okay. I take it you're still planning on being part of Lily's life?"

"Of course," said Finn. "That's why it's taking me a while to be sure about what I'm doing with Quinn, technically she could find a way to prove that Puck is Lily's father and then I would have no right to ever see her again."

"I honestly don't think she'd do that," said Rachel. "I mean, she wanted a good father for her baby in the first place, right?"

"True," said Finn. "I think I'll talk to her soon. Just got to figure out what to say."

"Good luck," said Rachel.

"Thank you," said Finn.

Rachel smiled a little as they got off the phone. Finn may not be any closer to dating her now than he was a year or two ago, but their connection wasn't lost.

* * *

><p>"You are <em>not<em> wearing that," said Kurt as he and Rachel were ready to leave for her Dads' house.

"But it's my party dress," said Rachel, looking slightly disappointed in her full-length lacy green dress.

"Who are you, my grandmother?" said Kurt. "Seriously, go change into something fun."

Rachel sighed. "I guess you're right. What about _this_?" She pulled out a bright red knee-high dress with a low cut. "It's my Audrey Hepburn dress."

"Gorgeous, but that's like _way_ too formal," said Kurt.

Rachel frowned. "But it's the only other dress I have. Wait! What if I borrow one of Shelby's suits?"

Kurt sighed. "Audrey Hepburn dress it is. Go put it on."

But despite the non-horrendous dress, about five minutes into the party everyone already had to go. "Why is everybody leaving?" said Rachel.

"Because this party blows," said Puck. "Look, if you want everyone to stay, let me break into your Dads' liquor cabinet."

"Great idea," said Jesse. "I'll help."

"No!" said Rachel.

"What's the big deal?" said Puck. "I'll replace it before they get home."

"Yeah," said Jesse. "Come on, Rachel, nobody's gonna get drunk off of _two_ wine coolers."

"That's the _point_," she hissed.

"Baby," said Jesse. "I insist."

"But…" started Rachel.

"You need to learn to loosen up a little," said Jesse. Then he wordlessly walked over to the liquor cabinet and picked up a sharp object to break the lock with.

Rachel blinked. _He's right_, she thought. _I can do this!_ "Let's party!"

* * *

><p>Back at home, Finn was sitting on his bed playing X-Box while Quinn played with Lily upstairs. It felt nice to have the room to himself for a little while, even if he didn't have anything useful to do with Quinn and Lily gone. Especially since he'd recently given up homework again.<p>

"Hey," said Quinn, walking through the door with a tired Lily in her arms. "Can we talk?"

Finn sighed. "What is there for you to say?"

Quinn leaned over and set Lily down in her crib. "You'd be surprised."

Finn turned off the X-box and put the game controller on his nightstand. "Go on."

Quinn sighed and sat down on the bed. "I never told you the full story of what happened the night I got pregnant with Lily. It was at that little party we had after the second football game of the season last year, the day that you ditched everyone to go help Mr. Schu set up something in the choir room. I was kind of feeling bored because you weren't there, and…"

"_Mike, could I pretty please have just _one_ bite of your slice of pizza?"_

_"You sure?" said Mike. "There's not some law against cheerleaders having pizza?"_

_"Please?" begged Quinn._

_"Sure." Mike relented and held up the slice for her to bite into._

_"You know, he does have a point."_

_Quinn looked up to Sue Sylvester towering over her. "Personally, I think you could still afford to lose a few, Lucy Caboosey."_

_Quinn froze as Sue walked away. "Ignore her," said Mike. "You know how she is."_

_Blinking back the tears in her eyes, Quinn shook her head and walked away, wondering how Sue Sylvester had even found out about her mean nickname. That's when Puck came up behind her. "Hey, Quinn, want to try a new diet drink? It's called a wine cooler."_

_"Sure," said Quinn, snatching the little bottle out of his hand and taking a gulp. She frowned when the drink instantly made her feel slightly dizzy. "Does this actually have wine in it?"_

_"Of course not," said Puck. "It's only called that because…uh…it encourages girls who are used to whining about their weight a lot to cool it. The stuff is amazing. It burns thirty calories a sip!"_

"And you _believed_ him?" said Finn incredulously.

"Of course, I was young and stupid and it was only the second party I'd ever been to," said Quinn. "I drank four of them right away. By the time the party was over, I was feeling really dizzy and couldn't figure out why, so I didn't say no when Puck offered to drive me home and help me up to my room. Once we got there, he helped me lay down on the bed and immediately started kissing me. He was telling me that I needed to have an experience or something like that and that I probably wasn't going to give a damn about you in three years and what was my vow of celibacy worth anyway when all my friends had already broken it?" Quinn had tears rolling down her cheeks now. "And then I asked him if he had protection, and he said, "trust me" and told me I wasn't fat. By the time I woke up the next morning, he was already gone. And I've hated myself ever since.

Finn nodded. "I might've actually been able to forgive you for that," he said. "But not a year and a half of making me live a life built on lies."

"I don't blame you," said Quinn. "Especially since…" she gulped nervously. "Remember when we almost performed Rocky Horror?"

"I was Brad, you were Janet, and Puck was Rocky," said Finn. "Too damn ironic now that I think about it."

"Well, one time when Puck and I went over to his house to have a dress rehearsal of all our songs…" said Quinn.

_"No, none of this sitting in chairs stuff," said Puck. "We've practiced the singing part plenty of times, now we've got to rehearse this scene _right_."_

_Quinn sighed. "We're already basically in underwear. Don't you think we ought to at least have _some_ boundaries? We're alone in your house and I have a boyfriend."_

_"No, we're not," said Puck. "We're in my lair. You're Janet. I'm Rocky. And you have a pasty-faced fiance who pays absolutely no attention to your body." Puck walked over to his boom box and pressed the button that started to play the theme for his song. "I made you sit over there." He pointed at a spot on the floor._

_Somewhat reluctantly, Quinn decided to just go with it. She sat down and folded her arms across her chest._

_"__I was feeling done in, couldn't win  
><em>_I'd only ever kissed before  
><em>_I thought there's no use getting  
><em>_Into heavy sweating  
><em>_It only leads to trouble and  
><em>_Bad fretting"_

_Puck nodded encouragingly. It suddenly occurred to Quinn that what she was singing actually happened to describe the night that she had gotten pregnant. She forced herself to stay in character and keep singing._

_"Now all I want to know is how to go  
><em>_I've tasted blood and I want more, more, more, more"_

_Quinn stood up and walked over to Puck and wrapped her arms around his shoulders._

_"I'll put up no resistance  
><em>_I want to stay the distance  
><em>_I've got an itch to scratch  
><em>_I need assistance."_

_On the last line, strictly because she was trying to be in character, Quinn grabbed Puck's hand and put it on her chest smack between her breasts._

_"Toucha toucha toucha touch me  
><em>_I wanna be dirty."  
><em>_  
><em>_She pressed her whole body up against Puck's._

___"Thrill me chill me fulfill me  
><em>_Creature of the night."_

_Before Quinn knew what was happening, Puck had his lips locked in hers. That wasn't in the script. Neither was his left hand reaching behind her back to undo her bra. Or his right hand pulling his shorts down…_

"Okay, okay, enough!" said Finn. "Did you do it or not?"

Quinn nodded tearfully. "It was his pathetic plan to get me and Lily "back". Afterwards I pulled on my clothes and left immediately with him yelling that I couldn't deny that there was something between us and that he loved me and loved Lily. I turned around and yelled at him that I hated him and he would _never_ be Lily's father. I haven't spoken to him or let him anywhere near her since then. That only made me hate him even more. That was the only other time we did it, though."

"The _only_ other time?" said Finn. "I was taking Lily to her six-month checkup during that "rehearsal"! I spent an hour sitting in a waiting room full of housewives giving me these dirty looks like there must be something wrong with me because I'm a teen dad, while meanwhile you were somewhere having…_Rocky Horror sex _with her biological father?"

"Finn I'm sorry!" said Quinn. "I thought that being honest with you would help."

"Damn right it's helped!" said Finn. "It's helped make this a hell of a lot easier." He stood up. "I want you and all your _crap_ out of my house, _now_!"

Quinn tried to blink back the tears spilling from her eyelids in disbelief. "I mean it," said Finn. He shook his head and pointed at her accusingly. "I'm _done_ with you!"

"Finn, please!" begged Quinn seconds before she started sobbing.

"No!" said Finn. "Lily's my daughter now, so she'll always be welcome in this house, but you will _never_ be!"


	9. Blame It On The Alcohol part 2

Meanwhile, in the basement of Rachel's Dads' house, Puck and Lauren were in the corner making out on a sofa that they could barely both fit on, Santana was crying and screaming at Sam for no reason whatsoever, Brittany had taken most of her clothes off and was darting back and forth across the room wearing nothing but a polka-dotted bra and panties, attracting the attention of Mike, Artie, and even Blaine, Sunshine and Mercedes were yelling at each other about who was the better singer and trying to belt out high notes that would've been difficult to hit sober, and Tina was rolling around on a couch alone and laughing. Every single of one of them was completely unmistakably wasted.

Kurt sighed and nodded to himself. "Yeah, I'm starting to think this was a bad idea."

"Hey you!" squealed Rachel, throwing her arms around Kurt. "Where's mah boyfriennnnd?"

"I think he went upstairs to get some more munchies," said Kurt. He patted Rachel on the back. "I can see you've had plenty of drinks yourself. I stayed sober because I was trying to impress Blaine." He glanced of at Blaine, who was with Mike trying to catch Brittany and smack her butt. "Clearly he doesn't have the same concerns."

"Will you please stop being gay Kurt, pleeeeease?" said Rachel.

"Huh?" said Kurt.

"I need you to fall in love with meeeee!" she cried, tears forming in her eyes. "Jesse doesn't _really_ love me, he loves the idea of us being a couple for oh all those other damn reasons! And Finn's stuck with Quinn and Puck is an idiot! Please Kurt, you're the only nice guy in the _whole worllllllld_." And with that she buried her head in his shoulder and burst into tears.

"Wow, Rachel," said Kurt. "I love you to death, but you make a _pathetic_ drunk."

Rachel's head jerked up and her eyes narrowed. "Oh yeah? Well how pathetic is _this_?" Rachel marched up to the stage and grabbed a microphone. "Hey, everyone! Who wants to play…_spin the bottle_?" Everyone cheered. "_Spin_ the bottle!" Rachel made a quick face at Kurt as everyone gathered around.

Kurt shook his head. "Oh boy."

* * *

><p>Outside in the dark, Quinn was shaking as she made her way up the walk to her parents' house. She knew that there was little to no chance of being able to count on her mother for any help whatsoever, but this was her last hope. Nervously, she tapped on the door.<p>

A minute later, her father answered the door. Quinn gasped a little. She hadn't seen him in over a year now. "Hi," he said with a smile. "Can I help you?"

Quinn calmed down slightly, surprised at his politeness. "I...can I stay here?"

Mr. Fabray frowned suspiciously. "Why would I let a total stranger spend the night in my home?"

"Daddy, please!" said Quinn.

"Especially not when you might be coming with, say, an illegitimate child."

"I'm not," said Quinn. "I promise. Finn will take care of the baby until I find a place to live."

Mr. Fabray raised his eyebrows. "Then why aren't _you_ with him?"

Quinn had tears streaming down her cheeks now. "He doesn't love me anymore."

"Of course he doesn't," said Mr. Fabray. "People like you don't deserve love." He shut the door and locked it behind him.

* * *

><p>Back at the party, things weren't getting any less crazy. Kurt wondered if he was beginning to understand how Finn felt about Puck and Quinn as he watched Rachel and Blaine sing a romantic duet together.<p>

"_Don't you want me baby?  
>Don't you want me oooooh!<em>  
><em>Don't you want me baby<em>?"

And the fact that there were three other couples in the room making out with each other was _not _helping.

"That waz amazinggggg! Lessss do another one!" said Rachel.

"Uh, no, I think we've had enough…" said Kurt.

Rachel stumbled over to Blaine and grabbed his sleeve. "_It's a quarter after one, I'm a little drunk and I neeeeed you noooooow_…"

"What the _hell_ is this?" yelled Jesse. "I've had it with you cheating on me with gay guys! I'm out of here!"

"I'll call you a cab," said Kurt quickly.

"No thanks, I walked here, I can walk home," said Jesse, pulling himself away from Kurt and stumbling up the stairs.

"Can I come in?" called a voice from the doorway as Jesse opened it.

"Quinn?" said Kurt, looking concerned as he spotted her tear-stained face and ruined makeup. "Sure you can come in."

"Are there drinks at this party?" asked Quinn.

"Yeahhhhh, I think we got some left," said Santana. "Didn't know you were coming, MILF."

"Ask Rachel," said Artie between kisses as Tina was sitting on his lap making out with him. "She's in charge here."

"I want a drink," snapped Quinn, walking up to Rachel. "And I don't mean a damn wine cooler, a _real _drink."

"We got three bottles of champagne left," said Rachel. "Here!" Quinn wordlessly ripped out the cork out of the top of the bottle and began guzzling champagne like water in the middle of a desert.

"Really, Quinn?" said Lauren. "Isn't getting drunk what ruined your life in the first place?"

Quinn didn't stop drinking until the whole bottle was gone. Then she grabbed the other two bottles and Rachel, and Kurt put on some music and kept an eye on everyone making sure that no one was getting hurt, sick, or pregnant.

It took no time at all for the two and a half bottles of champagne to get to Quinn. Rachel laid down on the floor with the rest of the last bottle, and Quinn laid down and put her head down on Rachel's stomach. "Do you know what I think would be awesome?"

"What?" said Rachel.

"If this entire room were shaped like a pompom!" said Quinn.

Rachel grinned. "Or like a gold star!"

"Or like Finn's face so we could destroy it!" shouted Quinn shamelessly.

"Yeah!" said Rachel. "Let's break everything in here!"

"Do it!" yelled Quinn.

"Naaah," said Rachel. "I'll drop your head if I get up now."

"Don't do it!" said Quinn.

That, for some reason, caused both of them to begin shrieking and laughing uncontrollably. Kurt shook his head to himself as he went to go call cabs for Brittany and Lauren. By the time he got both of them upstairs and into their cabs, Rachel and Quinn were still laughing. "You know what?" said Rachel. "I wonder if Finn loves me."

"Probably," said Quinn. "He _hates_ me now!" Rachel started laughing again. Quinn sighed and covered her face with her hands. "What am I gonna _do _now, Rachel? My family and all of my friends _hate _me, I have nowhere to live, no one who cares…"

"What about Puck?" said Rachel. "Didn't he get you into this mess?"

"Yeah!" said Quinn, uncovering her face. "I'll go live with him!" Then she closed her eyes and laid there motionless for just a second, her head still on Rachel's abdomen. "Naah. Lauren would eat me alive."

"Literally," said Rachel. "She's big enough!" Then she began to laugh again. Quinn shot up abruptly.

"How can you laugh about this, Rachel?" she yelled. "You think it's so funny? Is it really so funny that I have no one left? Huh?"

"Kurt walked over. "Is everything okay?" he asked quickly.

Quinn pointed at Kurt accusingly. "Do you _really _think that it's _so _damn hilarious that there's nobody left to care about me?"

"Nope, not okay," said Kurt quickly to himself.

"Damn _right_ it's not!" yelled Quinn. "You!" she shouted at Santana. "You were supposed to be my friend. But as soon as I wasn't the popular girl anymore, you didn't care about me! You welcomed my downfall with open arms! And _you_!" she screamed, pointing at Puck. "You _ruined _me! You _all! Fucking! Ruined! Me!_ None of you give a _shit_ about me! Well guess what, I don't give a _shit_ about any of you either! I'm done with _all _of you!"

"I'll get you a cab," said Kurt.

"No! I don't ever want _anything_ from you!" yelled Quinn, pulling her car keys out of her purse. "You made everything worse, I know you did! Finn was right about what he called you." Then completely unexpectedly, she shoved him so hard that he fell over, landing next to Rachel on the ground. Then Quinn stumbled her way up the stairs, stopping at the very top to turn around and yell, "_Stupid fag!_" before leaving the house.

Rachel looked up at Kurt and blinked. "Youuuu look like you need this!" She clumsily held up the nearly-finished bottle of champagne. "Last sip in the house!"

"Ah, what the hell?" said Kurt. He drank the sip, which gave him a tiny buzz.

* * *

><p>Two hours later, Carole entered Finn and Lily's quiet dark room and flicked on the light switch. "Finn?" she whispered. "There's been an accident."<p> 


	10. Forgiveness

Without stopping to think, Finn took off his nightshirt and exchanged it for a random T-shirt from a drawer. Then he pulled on a pair of jeans and shoved his cell phone in his front pocket and his wallet in his back pocket. By that time Lily was already awake and sitting up. Finn slung the diaper bag over his shoulder, picked up Lily in his other arm, and took off. Carole was already waiting out front with the car. Finn wondered if he should take the time to put Lily's car seat into his mom's car, then realized that Quinn had had it in her car anyway. Finn climbed into the backseat and shut the door. He was shaking as he tried to pull the seatbelt over himself and Lily and click it into place.

"What _exactly _did they say?" said Finn.

"That she was in critical condition after crashing into a cement wall at roughly fifty miles per hour," said Carole. "They didn't say why. Only that…"

"That what?" asked Finn after his mom paused for a few seconds.

Carole hesitated. "That she might not have much time."

Finn felt more scared than ever as he wrapped his arms tighter around Lily. After a few minutes of just sitting there trying to process what was going on, it suddenly occurred to him to wonder _why _he was so scared. He shouldn't be feeling so afraid to lose Quinn. She'd confessed to _repeatedly_ cheating on him with his best friend less than four hours ago. Not to mention all the lies about Lily…

"Do Quinn's parents know what's going on?" asked Carole.

"I don't know," said Finn. He pulled out his cell phone and speed-dialed the Fabray house.

The phone was answered on the third ring. "Hello?"

Oh, crap. It was Quinn's _Dad_. The one who had kicked her out in the first place. "Hi, could I speak to your wife please?"

"She's out of town at the moment," said Mr. Fabray. "Can I take a message?"

Finn sighed. "This is Finn. Quinn just got into a car accident. She's in the hospital."

"I'm sorry, who?" said Mr. Fabray.

"Finn Hudson," said Finn.

"I got that," said Mr. Fabray. "Who are you talking about?"

"Quinn, your _daughter_," said Finn.

"I'm sorry, my only daughter's name is Sarah Frances Williams," said Mr. Fabray. "And she's married to a good Catholic man."

"Look, if you're not even going to acknowledge your own _dying_ daughter, will you at least have the decency to tell Quinn's mom that she might only have one more chance to see her?" said Finn.

"I might if I see her," said Mr. Fabray. "If it doesn't turn out well, please know that I'm sorry for your loss." Then he hung up, leaving his last words to haunt Finn.

I'm sorry for your loss.

It was as if Finn was the only one who should care.

"We're here," said Carole softly as she pulled up the entrance to the emergency room of Lima General Hospital. "Should I take Lily?"

"No!" Finn almost snapped as he undid the seatbelt and grabbed the diaper bag. "Just go park the car," said Finn. He noticed that Lily was beginning to fuss and put her head on his shoulder, hoping that she would fall asleep as he rushed in through the automatic doors and up to the desk. "Excuse me?" said Finn. "I need to see Quinn Fabray."

The nurse at the desk checked something in her computer. "Are you a family member?"

"I'm the father of her child," said Finn. "She has no other family."

The nurse suddenly looked up sympathetically at Finn. When she noticed Lily in his arms she blinked back a few tears. "How old are you, son?"

"Is that relevant?" said Finn. "Please, just let me go see her."

The nurse nodded and pulled out a microphone. "Dr. Logan, please come out to the waiting room, Miss Fabray's family is here. Dr. Logan, please come out to the waiting room."

"Why can't you just let us in?" said Finn in an almost demanding tone.

"The doctor has to tell you what happened before you can see her," said the nurse softly.

Finn sighed and blinked back a few frustrated tears as he patted Lily's back. "Go to sleep," he whispered. She whimpered in response. She must have known something wasn't right.

"_Take me in into your darkest hour  
>And I'll never desert you<em>  
><em>I'll stand by you<em>  
><em>I'll stand by you<em>  
><em>Won't let nobody-"<em>

"Are you Miss Fabray's family?" asked a man coming up to them in scrubs.

"Yes," said Finn.

"You're…her brother?" the doctor guessed.

"No," said Finn. "I'm the father of her child."

The doctor's face fell. "This is the child?"

"Yes," said Finn. "Can you please, please let us see her?"

The doctor looked away from Lily and seemed to try not to think about her as he got his words out. "Let me explain to you what happened. Ms. Fabray was found on the highway having crashed her car into a cement wall. She was thrown from the driver's seat and hit her whole body against the concrete. Many of her bones were broken, including her skull. She was still alive when the ambulance picked her up, and they found out that she had a blood alcohol content of 2%, which if she were overage would have been over twice the legal limit."

"She's dead, isn't she?" Finn interjected.

The doctor hesitated for a split second before nodding. "Yes. I'm sorry. We'll need someone to come look at her for identification purposes."

"What's going on?" asked Carole, coming up behind Finn.

"She died, Mom," he whispered. Carole wordlessly put her arms around Finn and Lily.

"We'll need someone to come look at her for identification purposes," the doctor repeated, pointedly looking at Carole that time.

"Want me to do it?" asked Carole softly. Finn nodded. His mother gave him a quick squeeze before leaving to go identify Quinn's body.

"Does she have any other family members who would be willing to make funeral arrangements for her, or…" the doctor's voice trailed off.

"I'm not sure," said Finn. "I'll try calling her mother again later." He wordlessly turned around and sat down in a nearby chair with Lily, who had quieted down and was trying to fall back asleep. Finn laid her down on his lap and tucked her head into the crook of one arm, put his head in his other hand, and cried.

* * *

><p>Three days later, Finn waited outside of Quinn's church for the doors to open and the funeral guests to arrive. The only people with him were Quinn's parents and Lily in a little black dress.<p>

"What's her boyfriend doing here?" asked Mr. Fabray gruffly.

"He has just as much a right to be here as anyone else, darling," said Mrs. Fabray with a subtle fake smile.

They all stood there in silence until a church worker brought out a large sign to put by the door. It had a beautiful picture of Quinn in a white dress, and underneath it the words

R.I.P. Lucy Quinn Fabray  
>1994-2009<br>Age 15  
>Gone but not forgotten<p>

"Oh, sir," said Mrs. Fabray. "You made a mistake on the sign."

"Your husband had it made," said the worker. "Ask him about it if you see any mistakes."

"But you got the year wrong," Finn interjected. "Her age, too. It's 2011 and she's almost seventeen.

"She was dead to us two years ago, Finn," said Mr. Fabray, putting his arm firmly around his wife.

"_No_!" snapped Mrs. Fabray, pulling away from her husband. He stepped back in complete and utter shock. "No more! I'm done with this! Quinn may have made a mistake, but she _never_ deserved the kind of treatment that you gave her. Or that I gave her either. I let you steal the last year and a half of my daughter's life away from me…and I'll _never_ forgive myself." Then she turned to Finn. "Any day that you need someone to watch Lily and your mother isn't available, call me. I know that it's too late to make it right…" She forced herself to choke back a few tears. "But I'm going to try anyway." Then she walked up to the sign, pulled out a black sharpie, and wrote "11" over "09" and a "6" over the "5" in Quinn's age. Then at the very bottom of the sign, she wrote, "Beloved mother". Quinn's father glared at the sign but didn't say anything.

A few minutes later, the doors opened, and the guests began to arrive. Quinn's mother insisted that Finn and Lily would sit in the front pew along with her, her husband, and Quinn's sister and brother-in-law. Then she went over to the priest to make sure that Lily would be acknowledged in the service.

"We are all gathered here today to mourn the loss of Lucy Quinn Fabray, loving daughter of Russell and Judy Fabray, and loving mother of Lillian Carole Fabray-Hudson." Mr. Fabray turned to glare at his wife immediately, she reciprocated. "I think that Quinn's mother would like to say a few words to all of you."

Mr. Fabray blinked in confusion as his wife pulled a piece of paper out of her purse and walked up to podium. The priest nodded to her politely and stepped aside. Mrs. Fabray took a deep breath. "I remember one time when Quinn was a very little girl, I let her borrow a pearl necklace of mine to wear to church. It wasn't real, but she didn't know that. She was very proud to be wearing it, took herself very seriously that day. Then after Sunday school, I couldn't find her anywhere. Everyone was looking all around for her, in the church, in the parking lot, at the playground. Suddenly her father and I got a call from the local train station saying that Quinn was there at the window trying to buy a ticket to Paris with fifty three cents that she had in her pocket. When I went got her I asked her why she'd wanted to run away, and she confessed that she'd taken the necklace off to look at it and accidentally dropped it down a rain gutter and she told me…" Quinn's mother paused to wipe a few tears from her cheeks, "That she didn't think I would ever be able to forgive her. And I looked her in the eye and said, "I'm your Mommy, I will always forgive you". And I meant it. Yes, Quinn made a mistake when she was a teenager. But she paid for it dearly. She had to quit the celibacy club and cheerleading. She had to stay home from school for six months and worry about healthcare costs and babysitters and the cheapest diapers to buy at sixteen years old. _Sixteen_." The priest stepped over sympathetically as tears began to spill from Mrs. Fabray's eyelids, but she continued anyway. "As every other parent in here knows…when you have a child, they're a part of you. It's like you're attached by this invisible tether, and no matter how far away they are, you can always feel them. Now when I reach for that tether, I know there's no one on the other end. And it kills me. But still, I can feel her." Quinn's mother paused to take the piece of paper she'd been reading from and crumple it into her hand. "I forgive you, Quinnie." She said out loud.

Then she quietly walked off the podium and sat back down in the pew next to Finn. Her husband shook his head in disgust, got up, and left the building.

* * *

><p>After the service was over, Finn stood up to leave. "Finn?" said Quinn's mother. "I would be honored if you and Lily would stand up and say goodbye to the guests with me."<p>

"Thank you," said Finn. Really he just wanted to go home with the baby, but he didn't feel like he could say no to Quinn's mom now. He got up and walked to the exit of the church with Mrs. Fabray and with Lily in his arms. Lily's eyes darted around in confusion. "She's looking for Quinn, isn't she?" said Mrs. Fabray softly.

"Of course," said Finn. "She's been looking for her for the last three days straight."

"Don't worry," said a nearby relative of Quinn's as she walked past. "Babies' memories aren't that good. She'll forget and stop looking in a week."

That made Finn want to cry even more than seeing Lily so confused. In another week, his daughter wasn't going to remember her own mother. What kind of a consolation was that?

For the next hour or so, Finn stood with Quinn's mom mindlessly accepting people's condolences and listening them to tell him Lily was beautiful and adorable and looked just like her mother. He wasn't quite sure what to say to everyone. He was too numb to process what was going on himself. All he could think about now was Quinn's beautiful smile when she looked up at him, watching her hold Lily in her arms and talk to her, waking up with her head on his shoulder. This didn't make any sense. Four days ago, he'd been furious with her. And she certainly had never given him any reason not to be towards the end.

It was only when Kurt and Rachel came up to Finn hand in hand that he fully snapped back into reality. "Hi," he said, quite surprised to see either of them. "Thanks for coming."

"I'm _so_ sorry," said Rachel tearfully. She put her arms around both Finn and Lily and hugged them gently. She hadn't expected to cry during the service, but despite having wanted Quinn out of the way for so long, she had. _Not like this_, Rachel kept thinking.

"Thanks, Rachel," said Finn gratefully.

"If you need anything let me know," she said.

He nodded and gave a tearful smile before turning to Kurt. The two guys starred at each other for almost a full thirty seconds before they both blurted out, "I'm sorry."

"No I'm sorry," said Kurt quickly.

"No I am!" said Finn. Rachel smiled a little when the two brothers hugged each other tightly and patted each other's backs.

"Come back home?" said Finn.

"Yeah," said Kurt. "Just let me go to Rachel's house and get my stuff." Finn nodded. Kurt quickly squeezed his shoulder before leaving the church with Rachel.

After that, every single one of the members of New Directions came through and offered their condolences, help, and support. Finn was torn between happy and sad feelings the whole time until Mercedes came up. That's when he remembered how she'd been there during Lily's birth and they both started bawling and hugging each other. Then Santana came over sobbing with Brittany's arm around her shoulders. "Finn, I think I killed her!" she blurted out between sobs.

"What?" said Finn.

"I called her a MILF right before she left," said Santana.

"You were drunk," said Finn. "That's not what killed her, the damn alcohol and the road killed her!" He and Mercedes both put their arms around Santana, and Brittany joined in the hug as did Artie, Tina, Sunshine, Sam, and Mike. Finn looked up. The only two Glee club members who weren't anywhere near them were Puck and Lauren. As everyone else gradually made their way outside, Puck turned around and headed for a different exit. "He says he'll talk to you later," said Lauren. "We're both very sorry for your loss."


	11. Invisible Tether

After the funeral, Finn quietly brought Lily to the living room and set her down in her bouncer that he and Quinn had bought her for Christmas. Not quite sure what to do with himself, he pulled out his algebra homework and starred at the jumble of numbers on the page. "Hey Lily, do you know what the square root of a hundred and sixty-nine is?"

In response the baby slapped a button on the bouncer that caused "Old Mac Donald" to start playing. "No, that's not it," said Finn with a sigh.

"Hey, Finn," said Burt. "Puck's here to see you."

"Now?" said Finn. What the hell did _he_ want?

"Yeah," said Burt. "He said he only wants to talk to you for a second. Want me to keep an eye on Lily?"

"Sure," said Finn, knowing that it wouldn't be too much of an imposition because he planned to get rid of Puck as quickly as possible.

Puck was standing on the porch of Finn's house still wearing his black tux.

"What are you doing here, man?" said Finn. "If you had to talk to me today, why couldn't you do it at the funeral?"

"Because this needed to be said in private," said Puck. "Could you just come out here for a moment?"

Finn sighed and stepped out the door, closing it behind him. "What could we possibly have to say to each other anymore? I thought you were my best friend. Best friends don't knock up each other's girlfriends and let them raise the kid."

"That was Quinn's idea," said Puck. "I wanted to take care of her and Lily, I really did. I _begged_ her to give me a chance. I even tried selling drugs to the kids at our school to raise money to pay the hospital bill, and she wouldn't take me."

"Oh yeah, that makes you _real _father material," said Finn. Suddenly he _almost_ understood why Quinn had done what she did. But that didn't change the fact that she'd forced him into a life built on lies. Or the fact that she'd cheated on him _twice_.

"That's not what I wanted to say though," said Puck. "Because it's not an excuse. I just hate myself right now for the fact that I didn't tell you sooner. All this time, I blamed you for the fact that you were raising my kid, and then when I finally told you the truth, I was like, yes, this is it. She's finally going to be mine. I'd actually had this plan that I was going to come up to your house with some papers and sue you guys for half-custody of Lily, which would have been easy because I have two close cousins who are lawyers and she's old enough for a DNA test."

It suddenly occurred to Finn to be nervous. Technically, Puck was Lily's only living parent. If he proved that he was the father, he'd be able to take her away.

"But what Quinn's mom said at the funeral," Puck continued, "About being attached to your kid by an invisible tether, really got to me. You have that with Lily. I don't. You've built her crib, held her in the hospital, fed her, changed her, dressed her, sang to her, started teaching her how to walk, and all that other stuff that a real parent does for their kid. I'm not connected to that little girl by _anything_ aside from DNA. And as much as I wish it didn't have to be that way…" Puck paused, trying to choke back tears that were already running down his cheeks, "It is."

Finn hesitated. Then he nodded in agreement. "Well, thanks. I appreciate you seeing it that way."

"I just wanted to let you know that if you ever need any help with Lily, call me," said Puck, straightening up slightly trying to look and act as if he hadn't just been crying. "Here's all the profit I made with my pool cleaning business last month." He pulled a hundred-dollar bill out of his pocket and handed it to Finn. "I'll give you more," said Puck. A car horn honked. "I've got to get going now. Later dude."

Finn nodded again. "Thanks."

* * *

><p>That night, Kurt had dinner with Finn and their parents for the first time since the fight. "So, what's life like living with Rachel Berry?" said Burt.<p>

"Very…interesting," said Kurt. Everyone chuckled. "I mean, it was alright having everything in sight be either fluffy or pink or both and it was great having a duet partner 24/7 and finally having a chance to do something about that ridiculous wardrobe of hers, but she never quite understood why once in a while I like to sleep in past 6:00 a.m."

Finn laughed. "Yeah, that's Rachel for you."

Kurt looked surprised. "How do you know that?"

"Oh, she told me about it a long time ago," said Finn. "Every morning she gets up at six and has a protein shake and then exercises before doing anything else. She does it to keep herself focused on her goals."

"When did she tell you this, Finn?" said Carole.

"Not sure," he said. "Around the time last year that we were doing our first mashups so…not very long after the club started."

"And you _remember _that?" she said.

"Well, yeah," said Finn. "What's wrong with that?"

"Nothing," said Carole. She looked away and smiled a little.

"How's school, Finn?" said Kurt.

"Everyone's doing great," said Finn. "Everyone still misses you." Unfortunately, thinking about everyone at school made him think about the way he and Quinn had been avoiding each other lately in the hallways, which made him think about the fact that she was…

"Kurt?" said Finn. "Is there any way that you could come to the anti-drinking assembly?"

"The one where you guys are supposed to perform TicToc?" said Kurt.

"Yeah, but there's something else I want to do instead, and if you could help out that would really be awesome," said Finn. "I mean, if it's safe," he said quickly.

"Yeah, I'm sure it'll be safe for just a couple of hours," said Kurt.

"How much help do you need?" said Carole.

"Just Kurt and the Glee club," said Finn. "But you guys can come watch if you want."

"We might," said Carole. "Does Mrs. Fabray have Lily that day?"

"No, I do," said Finn. "You'll see."

* * *

><p>"You're <em>sure<em> that everyone's completely sober now?" said Finn as he stood backstage with the rest of New Directions.

"I made sure," said Mercedes. "Are you sure you don't want one of us to come up with you?"

"Thanks, but I think we're good," said Finn, scooping up Lily in his arms.

"Good luck," said Sam, patting Finn's shoulder.

"Thanks," said Finn.

"And now, we have Finn Hudson from New Directions, who were supposed to be performing a song by key-dollar sign-ha, but in light of recent events, they are going to be doing something else instead," said Principal Figgins. Finn took a deep breath and came out onto the stage and took the microphone as the audience clapped politely.

"Hey, everyone," he said. "I'm Finn Hudson, and this is my daughter Lily." Almost as if on cue, Lily grinned and yelled, "Ba!" at nothing in particular, causing a few audience members to chuckle and a few to sneer at Finn's shamelessly announcing that he was a teen dad. "This was her mother, Quinn Fabray," said Finn. A picture of Quinn was projected onto a wall in the room. "Most of you knew her as the captain of the cheerios and the president of the celibacy club before she got pregnant. She's spent about the last year and a half trying to pull her life together between school and taking care of Lily after getting kicked out of her parents' house. Then, last week, she went to a party with some friends of ours and had a few drinks because she was feeling angry about something. Eventually it became more than a few. At the end of the party, she got into a fight with someone and decided to leave. When a friend offered to call her a cab, she refused. She decided to drive herself home, two hours later I got a phone call from the hospital." A few gasps came from the room. Finn realized that most of the students and teachers hadn't even been told that Quinn was dead yet and felt bad for a second. "Next year she would have been going away to college. She wasn't quite sure what she wanted to do yet, but she was smart and an amazing performer, so she could have been anything. Instead she's dead."

Finn froze when he realized that over half the people in the room had tears in their eyes, and he was one of them. He tried to concentrate on Lily to avoid crying in front of the whole school, but when he looked at her, all he saw was Quinn.

"Should we do something?" whispered Santana backstage.

"Yeah, I think one of us should go out there," said Sunshine.

"Allow me," said Kurt, walking out onto the stage before anyone else could respond. He came up beside Finn and took the microphone. "I spent part of my childhood growing up without a mother. It wasn't easy. I can't imagine how hard it'll be for a little girl."

At that point, almost all the audience members were crying. Even Sue Sylvester had a few tears in her eyes.

"This one's for you, Quinn," said Kurt. Then he took Lily in his arms and stepped to the side of the stage. Finn smiled gratefully as he made his way to the center of the stage with the rest of New Directions as they came out from backstage. Mercedes began singing.

"_There's no one in town that I know_  
><em>You gave us someplace to go<em>  
><em>I never said thank you for that<em>  
><em>I thought I might get one more chance<em>"

Finn suddenly wished he was still holding Lily as he stepped forward to sing, but he knew he couldn't risk her crying and disrupting everyone. He glanced at her as he sang, Quinn's face echoing in hers more than ever.

"_What would you think of me now?_  
><em>So lucky, so strong, so proud?<em>  
><em>I never said thank you for that<em>  
><em>Now I'll never have a chance<em>"

Then all of New Directions stepped forward and sang together.

"_May Angels lead you in  
>Hear you me my friend<em>  
><em>On sleepless roads the sleepless go<em>  
><em>May Angels lead you in<em>

_May Angels lead you in_  
><em>Hear you me my friend<em>  
><em>On sleepless roads the sleepless go<em>  
><em>May Angels lead you in<em>  
><em>May Angels lead you in<em>"

"Maybe she really did have my bone structure," whispered Sue Sylvester to herself in the audience.

"When do we make our announcement, coach?" asked Becky.

Sue realized that she was talking about the drunk dial of Will's she'd been planning on broadcasting. "Nah, I'm uncharacteristically not feeling like destroying his life today. I'll save that phone call to blackmail him with some other time."

The curtains on the stage closed "Thanks for that, Kurt," said Finn.

"No problem," said Kurt. "I've got to get back to school now, I still have two classes left and then a Warblers meeting."

"Still singing with the canaries, Kurt?"

Finn turned around and saw Karofsky coming towards him. "What the hell are _you_ doing in here?"

"Actually, yes I am," said Kurt. "In fact, I _have _a canary. He's smarter than you."

"What's going on here?" asked Sam, stepping over with Santana, Puck, Mike, and Artie following behind.

"Karofsky was just leaving," said Finn.

"Fine," said Karofsky. "But you'd _better _not be thinking of coming back here." He pointed at Kurt and then left before anyone could say anything else.

"What's wrong with him?" said Artie. "If he hates you that much, why couldn't he just ignore you?"

"He's probably more scared of me than I am of him now that I know," mumbled Kurt to himself.

"Huh?" said Finn.

"Nothing," said Kurt. "Would one of you walk me to my car?"

"We all will," said Puck. He glanced at Finn on their way out the door as if to remind him that they were all still teammates.


	12. Hopeless Romantics

Three weeks had passed since the anti-drinking assembly, and Finn wasn't feeling any better. He felt like he was supposed to be beyond furious about the fact that the only girlfriend he'd ever had had betrayed him in more ways than he could count, but instead all he could do was miss her and the happy times they'd had. Her face was everywhere. In their bedroom, in the choir room, in the cafeteria, in the clusters of snobby cheerleaders who giggled when their boyfriends slushied Finn in the face and called him out for being the has-been that he was, in the sweet little moments that he saw between other boyfriends and girlfriends walking around hand-in-hand. It was all too much. He felt like he was barely living his life anymore, getting up every day, deciding which of his friends' homework he should be copying for which subjects, pretending to pay attention in his morning classes, eating his lunch not really caring what it tasted like, pretending to pay attention in his afternoon classes, lip-synching his way through Glee club, picking up Lily, and then heading home. The only time that he ever felt even remotely alive was when he was with her. It had been bittersweet when she'd finally stopped crying and looking around for Quinn, although sometimes when a photo of Quinn happened to catch Lily's eye, she would stop what she was doing and point to it in confusion. It was for that reason alone that Finn hadn't destroyed every photo of Quinn in the house by now. Which may have been a blessing in disguise, because sometimes he still liked looking at them.

But as out of it as he was, even Finn had to notice that there was something _really _weird going on at school, and he was pretty sure that Ms. Holiday coming back had something to do with it. It all started one day when Finn showed up to Glee club in his usual zombie-like state and Brittany skipped up to him and whispered, "Finn, I need your advice."

Finn's first thought was that only Brittany would ask his advice at a time like this, hell, he didn't even know how to live his own life anymore. "What's up?"

"Did Quinn tell you why she got so fat while you guys were waiting for the stork to bring Lily?" whispered Brittany. "Because I really don't want that to happen to me."

Finn gave Brittany an appropriately stupefied look as she bit her lip in anticipation. "Don't you remember when we all brought Quinn to the hospital the day Lily was born?"

"Yeah, I remember," said Brittany.

"Don't you know _why_ we were at a hospital?" said Finn.

"Duh, I'm not an idiot," said Brittany. "I know that sometimes when the stork gets busy he'll just drop all the babies off at the hospital and let their parents pick them up there. My mom and dad told me that twelve years ago when my little brother was born."

And ever since then, everyone in Glee club, seemed to be talking about nothing but…sex. Sometimes they even sang songs about it, like Ms. Holiday and Brittany and Santana probably were right now. Was that _really_ necessary? That just made him think about Quinn even more both because she was the only person he'd ever had sex with and because she'd been lying about losing her virginity to him.

"Finn?" said Mr. Shu.

"I can't," said Finn.

"I didn't ask you to do anything," said Mr. Shu.

"Oh," said Finn.

"Finn, I want you to go see Ms. Pillsbury _now_," said Mr. Shu.

"No thanks, I'm fine," said Finn.

"That was not a request," said Mr. Shu. "Everyone can see you aren't fine. Mercedes will walk you there."

Finn was about to protest, but them he looked up and saw Brittany and Santana hugging and kissing each other on the lips in the center of the room and wondered if he was, in fact, losing his mind. He got up and began following Mercedes to the guidance office.

"Do you want me to go in with you?" offered Mercedes.

"No thanks," said Finn. "I'll be back in a minute, she'll probably just give me a pamphlet."

Mercedes patted Finn's shoulder as he went in. Then she lingered by the glass for a moment as she sat down until Ms. Pillsbury noticed her and waved her away. She headed back to the choir room, and about fifty feet down the hall, she turned and looked back. She blinked back a few tears when she saw that Finn was crying. Except at the funeral and at Lily's birth, she'd never seen him cry.

"No, Finn, I'm sorry, I really don't have any pamphlets on how to forget about people," said Emma. "I only have pamphlets on how to recognize signs of depression, all of which you already have."

"I'm _not _depressed," said Finn.

"Really?" said Emma. "Because I see you every day walking through life like nothing means anything anymore."

"You want to know what I am?" snapped Finn. "I'm pissed off. Why the hell did she have to go to that stupid party?" And more importantly, why did he still have to care so much about her?

"You do have every right to be angry," said Emma. "But I'm still not entirely convinced that you aren't depressed. The other signs you have are…" Finn saw her grab a pamphlet about suicide prevention.

"I'm not going to kill myself, you know," said Finn. "I have a daughter."

"How do feel when you're with her?" asked Emma.

"Better," Finn admitted. "Not a hundred percent happy or anything, but life doesn't feel pointless when I'm with her." He stopped when he realized that what he was saying wasn't exactly making his case about not being depressed.

"Then I think that you need to spend more time with her," said Emma.

"How am I supposed to do that?" said Finn. "I'm already with her all the time when I'm not at school or at Glee practice, and I _can't_ quit Glee club because my friends there are all I've got anymore."

Emma pulled a slip of paper out of her drawer. "I'm suspending you from school for three weeks. Don't worry, this won't go on your permanent record."

"Why are you punishing me?" yelled Finn. "Don't you think feeling responsible for the death of my baby's mother is punishment enough?"

"Finn, you didn't force the alcohol down her throat," said Emma.

"But I kicked her out of my house," said Finn. "That's why she ended up at that stupid party."

"I'm sure that whatever went down, you had no way of knowing that was going to happen," said Emma, filling out a suspension form for Finn as she spoke. "Bottom line, this isn't a punishment. This is for your own good, Finn. Trust me."

"But what about Regionals?" said Finn.

"I won't stop you from going," said Emma. "Talk to Mr. Schuster about that later. For now I want you to get your stuff and go home."

Too weak to protest at that point, Finn took the suspension form to bring home to his mom, left the office, and mindlessly headed back to the choir room. "Mr. Shu, I…"

"Not now, Finn," said Brittany. "I have an announcement to make." She walked into the center of the room and stood by the piano. "You know how every couple in here gets a new name, like Puck and Rachel were Puckleberry, and Artie and Tina are Artina? Today, a new one is formed: Brittana. I love you, Santana. I always have." That was followed up by another passionate kiss that made everyone's eyes pop. Puck, Sam, and Artie all had their jaws practically on the floor.

"What is it that you wanted to say, Finn?" said Mr. Schu.

"Just that Ms. Pillsbury suspended me for three weeks," said Finn, grabbing his backpack off of his seat. "But I'm still with you for Regionals if that's okay."

"Of course," said Mr. Schu, secretly thinking that he'd have to have someone on deck to replace Finn in case he wasn't feeling well that day. "Do you need a ride home?"

"No, thanks," said Finn. "I need to stop by the Fabrays' house to pick up Lily first anyway."

* * *

><p>"What's wrong, Lily?" said Finn as he lifted his tiny daughter out of her car seat. Lily whimpered. "Want your teddy bear?" He handed her the little pink stuffed bear Mrs. Fabray had given her. He tried not to think about the fact that Quinn had been much better of knowing exactly what Lily was upset about when, but the thought stuck. As Finn unlocked the front door of his house and stepped inside, Lily in one arm and his backpack and diaper bag both slung over the other, he heard the sound of a woman crying. He almost turned around and left to go visit Burt at the shop instead, because the last thing he needed was to walk in on his mom crying over Quinn for the third time that week. That was always embarrassing for both of them-for Carole because she was mourning the death of the girl who she knew had cheated on her son and for Finn because his mom was crying over his girlfriend's death more then he was. But then he remembered that Burt and his mom were out having lunch with friends, so that couldn't be what was going on.<p>

"I really shouldn't be so devastated. I mean, this was inevitable, wasn't it? But not because for _this _reason! I even tried setting up a counseling session for us like my Dads had, but our school counselor isn't helpful at all, all she did was tell us to focus less on our relationship and more on preparing for college."

Finn stepped closer. He froze a little when he saw Rachel sitting on the living room couch next to Kurt wiping her eyes with a tissue. Kurt put both of his hands on Rachel's shoulders. "Rachel, look at me," said Kurt. "He's not worth it, okay? You're an amazing, kind, and generous girl, and someday you are _going _to find someone who loves you for more than your voice and your body."

That, of course, was the moment that Lily chose to fling her teddy bear into Rachel's lap, causing both her and Kurt to look up with a start. "Sorry!" said Finn quickly. "I was only here for a few seconds and…uh…sorry." He turned and began walking down the hallway as fast as he could with all he was carrying.

"Finn?" said Rachel. "Wait."

He paused and turned around. "Yeah?" he mumbled, still slightly mortified.

Rachel came up to him slowly with the teddy hear in her hand. Wordlessly she put the bear in Lily's arms. "Thanks," said Finn, forcing himself to smile.

"Your welcome," said Rachel. "How are you guys doing?" She looked away a little as she said that, as if it might hide the fact that her eyes and cheeks were bright red from crying.

"Getting by," said Finn. "Thanks. Oh, by the way, if you and Jesse need a counselor, try Ms. Pillsbury. I'm sure she'll be willing to see you."

"I will," said Rachel. "Thanks." Then she smiled a little and turned around to go back to the living room where Kurt was.

"Mm!" Lily squealed approvingly as she pointed at Rachel. "Yeah, she's a great girl," said Finn. "Brilliant singer, too." He sighed and kissed her fuzzy dark hair. "Just like your Mommy."

* * *

><p>Quietly, Rachel walked through the halls of her former school, hoping to avoid an interrogation or worse, a slushie facial, as she made her way to the guidance office. She wasn't quite sure what she was doing here, it wasn't like things were going to work out between her and Jesse after what had happened. But other than Kurt, who was depressed enough these days by the fact that Blaine was terminally clueless, she really had no one else who she could talk to about what had happened. Her last conversation with Jesse flashed through her mind.<p>

_"You said Shelby's not going to be back for another hour, right? Just take off your damn clothes and let's get this over with."_  
><em>"Jesse, this isn't funny. I told you, I'm still waiting for the right time."<em>  
><em>"There have been <em>plenty_ of right times!"  
>"Not for me," said Rachel quietly.<em>  
><em>"I can't keep doing this, Rachel," said Jesse. "I have done absolutely everything right. I don't deserve to wait more than a year to have sex with my own girlfriend."<em>  
><em>Rachel gulped. "I'm not ready," she said, not knowing what else to say.<em>  
><em>"Then when will you be?" said Jesse. "Look at me." Rachel looked up at her boyfriend tentatively as he put his hand on her cheek. "Do you see yourself ever being ready to have sex with me?"<br>Three minutes had passed before the tears welled up in Rachel's eyes and she whispered her answer. "No."_  
><em>Wordlessly, Jesse grabbed his sheet music and everything else of his that happened to be in Rachel's room and walked out the door.<em>

The guidance office was empty when Rachel walked through the door. She sat down in front of the desk, thinking that it wouldn't be too much of an intrusion to wait inside as long as she didn't get anything dirty. She scanned Ms. Pillsubry's desk for pamphlets that might be helpful and noticed that there was a wedding ring and a key resting on the desk with a note under them. Before Rachel could stop herself, she read it.

"Emma,  
>I'm sorry to be leaving you like this, but I have a feeling that this is easier for both of us because after you admitted to still being in love with Will Schuster we really have nothing more to say to each other. I know now that that's the only reason you never put out for me. I've loved you. I've given you everything. I've dealt with your issues. I don't deserve to wait this long to have sex with my own wife because of another guy. I already have all my stuff out of the apartment and I'll send you the divorce papers by Thursday.<br>Wish you the best,  
>Carl"<p>

Rachel suddenly got up and stepped away from the desk, embarrassed to have read the note but also suddenly realizing what had happened. "_I couldn't do it with Jesse because I'm still in love with Finn," _she thought, surprised that this realization came with a slight shock. Deciding she didn't need to see a counselor after all, she left and started crying as soon as she got to her car. After all this time, she was still in love with Finn. And it would be completely inhuman for her to go after him right now.

* * *

><p>Finn sat down on his bed next to Lily, who was playing with a few stuffed animals. "Lily, can you say Dada?" said Finn.<p>

Lily blinked her green eyes. "Da?"

Finn smiled. "Close enough."

Lily smiled and pointed to a picture of Quinn on the nightstand. "Da?"

Finn sighed. "No, that's Mama."

"Mama," murmured Lily.

Finn froze for a second. Had he really just heard that? Tears welled up in his eyes.

"Hey, Finn?" said Burt, stepping in through the open bedroom door. "Want to watch a game? Hey, are you okay?"

Finn opened his mouth to tell Burt he was fine and then closed it again because he was afraid that if he talked he'd start crying for real.

"What is it?" said Burt.

Lily grinned at Burt and pointed to the picture of Quinn. "Mama," she said, firmly this time.

Burt was quiet for a moment. "That was her first real word, wasn't it?"

"Pretty much," said Finn. "Why couldn't she have said that when she was still alive?" Before he could stop himself, he was imagining what would be happening if Quinn was in the room right now. She would squeal with excitement, praise Lily, kiss her on the head, she and he would be laughing, she'd tease him about the fact that Lily had said Mama before Dada, kiss him…

"I hate this," mumbled Finn. "I'm supposed to hate _her._ The woman cheated on me twice and right now all I can do is miss her, how stupid is that?"

Burt patted Finn's shoulder. "You know something?" said Burt. "Kurt's mother used to iron everything we owned. Her T-Shirts. My work shirts. Kurt's play clothes. Underwear. Even _socks_. That irritated the _crap_ out of me. I never got it, who the hell wastes their time ironing _socks_? There were other things she did to annoy me to be sure, like the time when she let Kurt dye my best tie pink and the fact that she got up in the middle of the night sometimes just to have a spoonful of peanut butter. But nothing annoyed me quite as much as the fact that she ironed socks. And looking back on it today, I still hate it. But right after she died, I missed ironed socks so much that I didn't think I would ever be able to wear another pair of socks as long as I lived because I knew they wouldn't be ironed. I loved thinking about her standing there at our ironing board with a basket of socks while I rolled my eyes at her." Burt walked over and put his hand on Finn's shoulder for a moment. "I know that's nothing like what you're going through, but it's always impossible to hate anything about them at first, see what I'm saying?"

"Yeah," said Finn. "I do."

Lily pointed to Finn. "Da," she said again. He had to smile. Then she pointed to Burt. "Da?"

"No, Lily," said Finn, picking her up in his arms and pointing to Burt. "This is Grandpa."


	13. What Goes Around

**A/N: just so you know, just because Quinn dies in a car crash in this fic DOES NOT mean I want it to happen on the show! Ugh, that would be so unfair! Anyways I purposely made this one not as sad now, hope you enjoy!**

Outfitted in the pure white dress that she was to wear the following week at Regionals, Rachel stepped out onto the stage in Vocal Adrenaline's auditorium and took the microphone in her hand.

"_If I die young_  
><em>Bury me in satin<em>  
><em>Lay me down on a<em>  
><em>Bed of roses<em>  
><em>Sink me in the river<em>  
><em>At dawn<em>  
><em>Send me away with the words<em>  
><em>Of a love song<em>…"

"_Of a love song_, _uh oh, uh oh,_" sang her teammates.

"Stop," said Shelby. "You girls don't join her until the second verse. Now start over, Rachel."

"Listen," said Rachel. "Don't you think it's a little insensitive of us to be performing a song about somebody dying young when a girl on one of the other teams just died?"

"_No_," said one girl. "They aren't even going to be at our Regionals this year."

"Still!" said Rachel. Secretly she didn't feel like doing the song much herself after having been at Quinn's funeral so recently.

"Well, Rachel," said Shelby. "Do you have another song you'd like to suggest singing instead?"

Rachel smiled. "Actually, I do."

"What is it?" asked Shelby.

"Nobody in here has heard it," said Rachel. "I'll sing part of it for you."

"How do you know none of us have heard it?" said one of Rachel's teammates.

"I wrote it myself," said Rachel. Then she took a deep breath and picked up the microphone.

"_What have I done?  
>Wish I could run<em>  
><em>Away from this ship going under<em>  
><em>Just trying to help<em>  
><em>Hurt everyone else<em>  
><em>Now I feel the weight of the world is<em>  
><em>On my shoulders<em>  
><em>What can you do<em>  
><em>When your good isn't good enough?<em>  
><em>And all that you touch tumbles<em>-"

"Okay, stopped," snapped one of Rachel's teammates. "You know, I'm starting to think that you've got more than a soft spot for New Directions. I think that they sent you here to sabotage us."

"Yeah, for real," said another girl.

"That is _not_ true!" said Rachel. "How _dare_ you suggest that?"

"Then what is this?" said someone else. "We're never going to win Regionals with a song like that. No way. Vocal Adrenaline is known for taking great songs and finding a way to make them even greater and putting together explosive performances on top of that, not for expressing our feelings. That's just stupid."

"That was a very beautiful song, Rachel," said Shelby almost apologetically. "But I'm afraid I have to agree that it just doesn't suit our team. Please start singing If I Die Young again from the top."

"Yeah, Rachel," said Jesse. "Shut up and sing."

"Jesse, that wasn't necessary," said Shelby softly.

Dejected, Rachel swallowed her pride and resumed the song. She sang it perfectly there and on the stage at Regionals while her female teammates sang backup and the boys sprinkled her with rose petals.

"_And I'll be wearing white  
>When I come into your Kingdom<em>  
><em>I'm as green as the ring<em>  
><em>On my little cold finger<em>  
><em>There's a boy here in town<em>  
><em>Who says he'll love me for forever<em>  
><em>Who would have thought<em>  
><em>Forever would be severed by<em>  
><em>The sharp knife<em>  
><em>Of a short life<em>"

Rachel carried the note on long enough for the other girls to step forward out of the background so that their voices would be louder.

"_If I die young  
>Bury me in satin<em>  
><em>Lay me down on a<em>  
><em>Bed of roses<em>  
><em>Sink me in the river<em>  
><em>At dawn<em>  
><em>Send me away with the words<em>  
><em>Of a love song, oh<em>  
><em>The sharp knife<em>  
><em>Of a short life, well<em>  
><em>I've had<em>  
><em>Just enough time<em>"

Rachel's voice faded as the audience erupted into cheers. "Ladies and gentlemen, Vocal Adrenaline!" she called. Then she stepped off to the side of the stage because she wasn't going to be in the next number as per Jesse's request. He made his way straight to the center of the stage and the other girls began dancing around him while the rest of the guys sang and danced backup.

"_I was made for loving you baby  
>You was made for loving me<em>,"

Jesse sang as he picked up one girl and ran his hand down her back before setting her down.

_"And I can't get enough of you baby  
>Can you get enough of me<em>?"

He picked up a different girl and did the same thing.

"_Tonight  
>I want to give it all to you<em>  
><em>In the darkness-"<em>

After Jesse pulled two girls close to him at the same time on the last line, Rachel stepped back further away from the stage and shook her head. By this time next week he would undoubtedly be with one of them. Probably the one who was the greatest singer next to her. Ever since they'd broken up, she'd felt even less welcome at Vocal Adrenaline than she had before.

"You did an amazing job with your song, Rachel," said Shelby, coming up behind her daughter and putting both her hands on her shoulders.

"Thank you," said Rachel.

"If the reaction from the audience to that one was any indication, I'd say we won based on just that," said Shelby. "Although I can't help but wonder if you'd be better off with a show choir that allows for more…" she hesitated. "Individuality." Shelby sighed and squeezed Rachel's shoulders. Then she glanced up. "What the hell? That was _not_ in my choreography!"

Rachel glanced up and nearly went into shock when she saw Jesse grabbing the girls and kissing them on the lips at complete random during the chorus.

"There's no way we're going to win with him behaving like that!" said Rachel.

"No, there's not," said Shelby in a voice that suggested that she was about to break something. "Don't tell anyone, but he may get expelled for this. Guess he may have to get his GED after all. You know he couldn't graduate last year like he was supposed to because he was suspended during the last month of school for egging the principal's car."

Rachel raised her eyebrows. "He never told me that."

"Not surprised," said Shelby. "Well, as long as we're about to lose, I might as well not have anyone in the audience thinking that it's my fault."

Before Rachel had a chance to ask her what she was doing, Shelby marched out onto the stage, where Jesse was now belting out, "Tonight, I wanna make it all come true," while holding a girl up with his face pressed against her chest. He looked a little worried when he saw Shelby out on the stage and was too shocked to protest when she grabbed him by the hand and yanked him off the stage, giving him just a split second to put down the girl he was holding and for his understudy to step in and resume the song. Rachel ducked into the dressing room to avoid the shouting when Shelby lectured Jesse and threw him out of Vocal Adrenaline.

* * *

><p>"<em>Cause baby you're a firework<em>  
><em>Come on show em what you're worth<em>  
><em>Make 'em go oh, oh, oh<em>  
><em>As you shoot across the sky, eye, eye<em>…"

Rachel sat in the audience at the New Dirctions and Warblers's Sectionals smiling proudly at her former teammates. They were doing an amazing job with the current number, but she had liked the first song, Blackbird, even better. She was sure Finn had chosen to sing it in honor of Quinn. _Definitely_ more individuality, she thought.

Nearby, Carole Hudson was sitting with Lily in her lap looking at the same thing Rachel was looking at-not the singers on the stage, but Kurt's hand reaching for Blaine's two rows in front of them. When Blaine squeezed Kurt's hand back and kissed him on the cheek, Rachel almost squealed. All the texts she's gotten from Kurt the previous afternoon weren't just jokes or wishful thinking, this was officially really happening! Finally! Took them long enough!

Out of the corner of her eye, Rachel saw Carole take her cell phone out of her pocket and sigh. Then she gathered Lily on her hip and began making her way to the middle aisle. Rachel tucked her legs in so that Carole could get past her, but instead Carole plunked Lily down on Rachel's lap.

"_Take her to him, will you_?" she whispered.

"Uh, sure," said Rachel. As Carole disappeared, Rachel sat Lily up in her lap and prayed that she would do anything noisy. She wasn't sure if Lily even remembered her. The last time she'd really spent time with the baby was two months ago when she came over to help Kurt babysit and they'd sang her a lullaby. Thankfully, the only noise Lily made was to point to Finn and yell, "Dada!" at the end of the song. Finn looked to her and waved and seemed slightly startled when he realized Rachel was holding her. He pointed to the back room, indicating that Rachel should bring Lily there.

"Hi, Rachel!" squealed Mercedes, giving her a big hug as soon as she walked into the green room.

"Hi!" said Rachel. "How are you guys?"

"We're doing okay," said Puck with a smile.

"Better than okay," said Tina. "I think we won!"

"Except that I'm starting to think Lord Tubbington is smoking again," said Brittany.

"Guess what? Tina and I are running for prom king and queen," said Artie. "I know we're probably not going to win, but it's fun."

"Of course you're not going to win," said Lauren. "Puck and I are. Vote for us or you'll be _Zised_."

"Be glad you're not a part of this," mumbled Finn as he came over and plucked Lily out of Rachel's arms. "Competition is getting pretty fierce."

"It's really good to see all of you, actually," said Rachel. "Surprisingly good. How are you holding up?"

"Things are getting better, thanks for asking," said Finn. "Did anyone tell you Brittany and Santana are apparently dating now?"

Rachel's eyes widened in surprise. "It's true," said Santana, grinning as Brittany leaned over and planted a kiss on her cheek.

"Well, congratulations," said Rachel, still a little in shock by the fact that the former school sluts were apparently not even straight.

Just then, the judges called the teams out on stage and Rachel had to stay off to the side while the New Directions received their trophy.

* * *

><p>Finn's life had become decidedly easier as he started spending most of his time at home. The only times he left the house anymore were to go to Glee practice and help Burt at the tire shop. Everywhere he went, Lily went. All of his friends from New Directions doted on her, especially the girls. Sunshine and Mercedes in particular would take her aside and play games with her and sometimes refuse to give her back to Finn until she needed a diaper change. Even Sam would hold her sometimes and sit around pretending to have serious conversations with her. "I just don't know, Lily. Do you think I'm biting off more than I can chew with two jobs, football, glee club, and school?" Lily would make a random noise, and Sam would nod. "I thought so." The only one who had never come near her or held her, Finn noticed, was Puck. As much as Finn still resented Puck, that didn't seem right. "Um…do you want to hold her?" said Finn one day.<p>

"Oh, god no," said Puck quickly. "I might drop her."

"No you won't!" said Sunshine.

Santana grinned. "I think you should do it."

"I can't!" said Puck.

"Come on, Puckerman!" said Lauren, jabbing him gently in the ribcage.

"Yeah!" said Mercedes.

"But she looks so fragile…" said Puck.

"She won't break," said Finn. "I promise. Well, she might break _you_. The other day Kurt was holding her and she kind of punched him in the eye out of nowhere."

"Aww, poor Kurt!" said Brittany.

"Wish we could have him back here," said Puck.

"Don't we all?" said Finn. Then, before Puck could change the subject further, he put Lily down on her biological father's knee.

"Um…hey there," said Puck softly. Two big green eyes twinkled back at him as he held her in place with his hands as carefully as if she were made out of glass. All the girls watched and cooed at the big jock with the mohawk holding the tiny baby girl.

"Hey guys," said Mr. Schuster, stepping in. "You'd better come out here and see this!"

Finn paused to retrieve Lily from Puck before making his way out into the hall with the rest of the club only to see that about half the school was crowded out in the hallway. He could just barely make out the figures of Azimo, Karofsky, Sue Sylvester, and two cops standing right out in front of the school.

"What did we miss?" asked Puck.

"They broke into her house and raided the trophy cabinet," said Will. "Which, basically, is the entire house."

"What did they do with the trophies?" asked Sam.

"I think they broke windows around town with them or something," said Will. "In any case, if Sue has anything to say about it, those two aren't getting off easy."

"No, _you_ don't understand!" shouted Sue loud enough for the whole school to hear. "Not only do I know plenty of teachers and students who can attest that these boys are the most destructive and obnoxious students in the entire school, but they have now damaged about THREE MILLION DOLLARS worth of my _personal_ property! Don't think that even if these cops let you off easy your parents aren't going to hear from all my lawyers by tomorrow morning, and _believe_ me, if you try to convince anyone that you're innocent, this fight will get uglier than the secrets revealed after the 1945 Watergate scandal involving the extramarital affairs of one president John F. Kennedy and a prostitute named Marilyn Monroe."

"That did not make any sense," said Mike.

"And since when does _Sue _have a problem with destructive and obnoxious?" said Tina. "She tried to legally change my name to Tina Cohen-Loser!"

"Who cares?" said Santana. "No more slushie facials!"

"Which should make the Night of Neglect benefit all the more appropriate," said Will. "Let's all go to the auditorium for one final dress rehearsal."

"Absolutely," said Sunshine. "I'm closing it, right? If I don't all my Twitter followers may just leave before the end."

Mercedes rolled her eyes as Mr. Shu said, "Of course, Sunshine. Of course."

* * *

><p>"This is awesome," said Rachel as she, Blaine, and Kurt entered the front door of William McKinley High. "Are you sure I'm not being a third wheel or anything?"<p>

"_Of course _not," said Blaine. "Just because we're dating each other now doesn't mean we don't love hanging out with you."

"Besides," added Kurt. "If Karofsky shows up, I'll need all the reinforcements I can get."

"Why would he come?" said Rachel. "He hates the Glee club."

"Hey, guys!" said Artie, coming down the hall with Tina. "Did you hear what happened to Karofsky?"

Kurt froze. "Is he here?"

"No," said Tina. "He's gone forever!"

"What?" said Rachel.

"He and Azimo went to Juvi," said Artie. "They'll get out in three years, two with good behavior, and then be transferred to a halfway house."

"Regardless, they won't be coming back here again," said Tina. "We'd better get backstage, the place is crowded but we saved three VIP seats for you."

"Great," said Kurt. As soon as Artie and Tina started talking away, Kurt yelled, "Yes!" and threw his arms around Rachel and Blaine. They laughed and began cheering with him.

"Wow," said Rachel. "So what does this mean, Kurt? Are you coming back?"

"Maybe," said Kurt.

"_Maybe_?" said Rachel and Blaine in unison.

"I have one condition," said Kurt, taking Rachel's hand and squeezing it. "You have to come with me."

"Kurt, I…" Rachel began. Then she paused. Would that really be such a bad idea?

"Come on, Rachel," he said. "This is where we belong."

"I…I…" stammered Rachel. "_Yes_!"

"Alright!" said Kurt. "Let's go tell everyone after the show."

"Perfect!" said Rachel.

And it was settled: Kurt and Rachel were coming home.


	14. Suspicious Minds

Within a week, both Rachel and Kurt were back at McKinley and back in the Glee club. The Warblers had come over and serenaded both of them, Kurt because they would miss him and Rachel because they knew Vocal Adrenaline would only give her grief. And to celebrate, Kurt insisted that they all perform Born This Way by Lady Gaga.

"That's a great idea, Kurt!" said Mr. Schuster. "In fact, I think we should all wear a T-Shirt with one thing about ourselves that we're accepting and are not going to change."

"What are you putting on yours, Rachel?" asked Mercedes.

"Shrimp?" said Kurt, jokingly jabbing her with his elbow.

"No, I'll probably put the one thing that I know everybody here hates about me," said Rachel. "Bigmouth."

"Besides, she can't put shrimp," said Sunshine. "I'm putting that."

"I bet I'll know what Sam will put," said Santana. Sam glared at her.

And yet the day they were performing the number, Sam showed up in a shirt that said, "Trouty Mouth," just like Santana had predicted. Puck and Lauren were shirts that said, "Bad Attitude" and "Badass". Artie and Tina were wearing shirts and said, "Brown Eyes" and "Four Eyes". "Hey, said Artie, "We match!" Tina bent over and kissed him.

"We match too," said Sam, turning and smiling at Rachel.

"Yeah," said Rachel. "Sam Evans, right?"

"Yeah," said Sam. "I know who you are. I've heard lots about you."

"Nothing too horrible, I hope," said Rachel half-jokingly.

"Just that you're the diva to end all diva's," said Sam.

"That's true," said Rachel.

"You think you could give me a few tips?" said Sam. "I'm kind of new around here, and I never seem to get any solos, duets, anything."

"Sure," said Rachel.

"Okay everybody, in your places!" shouted Kurt as he stepped out onto the stage followed by Sunshine and Tina. "It doesn't matter if you love him, or capital H-I-M…M…M…"

* * *

><p>The next morning, Finn came to school and heard Puck talking to Lauren about going out to Breadstix before prom. "What, is that our official dating spot now?"<p>

"I guess so," said Puck. "That's everyone's official dating spot actually. Artie and Tina, Santana and Brittany, Rachel and Sam…"

Finn froze. "What are you talking about? Rachel and Sam aren't dating."

"Maybe it is a stretch to say they're "dating"," Lauren agreed. "But we did see them there last night."

Without saying anything else to either of them, Finn marched off and headed straight for Sam's locker. "Hey, Finnster," said Sam. "What's up?"

"I'm about to give you some tough love, man," said Finn. "Rachel Berry is _not_ into you."

"Really?" said Sam. "She seemed to have fun last night."

"Did she kiss you?" said Finn.

"No," said Sam. "And all we talked about was music, how to get prepared for a competition, stuff like that. But we really clicked."

"Don't kid yourself," said Finn. He lowered his voice. "I know Rachel. She was just using you to make me jealous."

"I don't think so," said Sam. "Wait…_is _this making you jealous?"

Finn froze and didn't say anything. _Was_ this making him jealous? _Should_ this be making him jealous? Was it really okay for him to be over Quinn yet? Maybe. It _had_ been three months, not to mention that they'd already broken up before she died. Plus, this wasn't just any girl. He'd _kissed_ Rachel before he found out Quinn was pregnant.

"You know what I think?" said Sam. "I think you're talking to the wrong person about this. If you think you might have feelings for Rachel, you should be telling _her_ before there's another guy involved. Because if it's not me it'll be somebody else."

* * *

><p>Something <em>very<em> bizarre was going on. Kurt had worn that exact jacket last year, and Mercedes knew it. That jacket just wasn't Sam's style, so there's no way he would have asked Kurt to borrow it unless…

"Oh my god," whispered Mercedes. She bolted for the choir room, where she knew Rachel, Brittany, and Santana were rehearsing.

"Rachel, there's something I've gotta tell you," said Mercedes.

"What?" said Rachel.

"Your boyfriend is gay," said Mercedes.

"Okay, first of all, Sam is not my "boyfriend"," said Rachel. "We just had a business dinner."

"And second, he's not gay," said Santana. "I dated him, remember?"

"Yeah?" said Mercedes. "Look at _you _now."

"Mercedes, trust me," said Rachel. "If Sam were gay, I would have noticed it by now."

"How?" said Mercedes. "You _just met_ the guy!"

"Because I would have," said Rachel. "I never told you guys this, but I'm just a _little_ psychic."

"I think it's pronounced 'psych_o_'," said Brittany.

"_Very funny_, Brittany," said Rachel.

"Sorry, grammar confuses me," said Brittany. "My English teacher says I might get better grades if I skipped class more often, but I don't know if she means for me to skip fast or slow so I just end up doing nothing."

"Excuse us," said Mercedes, taking Rachel by the hand and pulling her out into the hallway. Then she whispered to her that she had seem Sam wearing Kurt's jacket.

"No way," said Rachel. "There's no way that Kurt would do that to Blaine."

"Apparently there is," said Mercedes sadly. "I can't think of any other reason why Sam would walk around in a jacket like that. Besides, I was here when Sam first arrived and Kurt wanted to sing a duet with him."

"That was then, this is now," said Rachel. "Sam is _not_ gay, and Kurt is _not_ cheating with him, and I'm going to prove it."

"Good luck with that," said Mercedes as Rachel marched down the hall.

* * *

><p>Rachel had her binoculars and her camera ready as she snuck off of the school bus after Sam, staying just far enough behind him that he couldn't see her. She saw him walk past the gated community she had expected him to enter and into…a motel parking lot. What was this? He didn't even bother to check in, he just headed for a room very purposefully. He'd clearly been here many times before.<p>

"Sam?" said Rachel, stepping closer, shoving her camera into her pocket.

Sam whipped around and his face turned bright red when he saw Rachel. "Rachel. What are you doing here?"

"I think the real question is, what are _you _doing here?" Rachel snapped. "If you're gay, you can just come out and tell the Glee club. Kurt's safe at McKinley now, so you can be, too." More than anything she was feeling disappointed in Kurt for having cheated on Blaine.

"What the hell are you talking about?" said Sam.

"Mercedes told me she saw you wearing Kurt's jacket," said Rachel.

Sam sighed. "He gave it to me, okay?"

"I know how that happens," said Rachel. "Sometimes if Jesse left his coat at my house I would wear it to school the next day. There was one he even let me, keep, but I'm pretty sure he has it back now that we're…"

"Kurt only gave me his jacket because my old one wore out, and I need one to work my night job," said Sam.

Rachel rolled her eyes in annoyance. Just how dumb did this guy think she was? "All I'm saying is that I don't want you using me as a beard, okay?" she said. "As is everyone's convinced that our dinner we had at Breadstix last night was a date. You know how people talk."

"I couldn't afford another jacket, okay?" said Sam. "I _live_ here."

"You don't have to lie to me," snapped Rachel.

"I do!" yelled Sam, grabbing Rachel's hand and leading her to the door of one of the motel rooms. He opened the door, revealing two adorable little blonde kids, one boy and one girl, sitting on a bed.

"Hi, Sammy," said the little girl. "Mommy had to go to work early, so she told us we had to stay on the bed until you got back."

"Can I go to the bathroom now?" said the little boy.

"Go ahead," said Sam. He turned to face a mortified Rachel standing in the doorway. "My dad lost his job, and the only job Mom could get was a waitress as a restaurant. Dad's pounding the pavement all the time looking for work, so Mom and I watch the kids in shifts."

"I'm sorry," whispered Rachel.

"It's okay," said Sam. "I just…" He sat down on the bed and started to tear up a little.

"Don't cry, Sammy," said the little girl, wrapping her arms around Sam's shoulders.

Rachel blinked back a few tears herself. "I won't tell anyone," she said. "Promise."

"Thank you," said Sam. "That's the first time I've cried."

"First time you've cried about what?" said the little girl. When Sam didn't answer, the little girl looked at Rachel and said, "Hi, I'm Stacie."

"I'm Rachel," said Rachel.

"Are you Sammy's friend?" said Stacie. "Sammy hasn't brought a friend home from school in a while."

"Yes," said Rachel. She could see why. The motel room only had one bed in it and a sleeping bag on the floor that Rachel guessed was either for Sam or his dad. "Yes, I'm Sam's friend."

"Wanna watch Powerpuff girls with me?" said Stacie. "Sammy's kind of boring right after he gets home from school cause he has to do his homework, so you won't want to hang out with him."

Sam laughed a little. Rachel looked at him. "You can stay for a while if you want," said Sam. "I'll walk you home on the way to my night job."

"Sure," said Rachel. She sat down on the bed next to Stacie and watched TV and played with the kids until Sam finished his homework and his mom came home.

"I need to ask," said Rachel once she and Sam were outside walking. "The other night when we went out to breadstix…that wasn't supposed to be a date, was it?"

"Kind of sort of," Sam admitted. "You're not really my type, but I was feeling a little down about the fact that I can't really afford to have a girlfriend, plus my last girlfriend leaving me to become a lesbian kind of shook my confidence a little."

"I understand," said Rachel. "There's someone I'm trying to get over and it's not working so…"

"No harm, no foul," said Sam. "Thanks for promising not to tell anyone."

"Of course," said Rachel. "That's what friends are for." She and Sam both smiled. "Maybe I could come over again sometime. You don't seem to get a lot of visitors."

"That would be awesome," said Sam. "If you don't mind getting roped into checkers or Powerpuff Girls or something whenever you come in.'

"Of course not," Rachel assured him. "Stevie and Stacie are great kids."

"Yeah, I think so too," said Sam. "I just wish there was more I could do for them. We had to sell most of their toys before we moved."

"They seem pretty content though," said Rachel. "Almost as if they're too young to really know what hit them."

"Thank god for that," said Sam.

"That's my Dads' house over there," said Rachel. "Goodnight, Sam."

"Goodnight."

Rachel smiled at her new friend as she walked away from him, knowing that even though she would do anything to help him, they would never be more than that.

* * *

><p>"How could you think that?"<p>

"Because I SAW HIM WEARING IT!"

"He could have gotten it somewhere else?"

"Like HELL! How could you do this?"

Rachel bolted around the corner as she heard her two best friends yelling at each other. "He didn't!"

"Still in denial, are we?" snapped Mercedes, standing next to Kurt with her hands on her hips. She had Santana and Tina on either side of her.

"No," said Rachel. "Sam was just over at Kurt and Finn's house rehearsing and Sam forgot his coat." Kurt looked over at her in surprise.

"Finn was with them and everything?" said Mercedes. Rachel nodded. "Wow, why didn't you tell us all that in the first place?"

"Because I'd rather that you just trusted me," said Kurt. "I've never cheated on Blaine and I never will." Then he glared at Mercedes, grabbed Rachel's arm, and walked off with her.

"You know, don't you?" said Kurt. Rachel nodded. "I can't believe you actually fooled the three of them."

"Me neither," said Rachel. "This could be a sign that I ought to get back into acting."

"Back?" said Kurt.

"Of course," said Rachel. "I starred in The Sound Of Music when I was in preschool and Swan Lake when I was in Kindergarten."

"Really? What have you done since then?" said Kurt.

"Um...yhere's the bell," said Rachel. "Gotta go!"


	15. Samchel

Tired and dizzy, Sam stumbled up the steps and through the front door of William McKinley High. "Hey, Rachel?" he whispered. "Can I borrow a dollar for a soda? I could really use something to keep me awake."

"Sure," said Rachel, slipping him a five dollar bill. "Buy yourself something to eat, too. I don't want to see you looking like this all day."

"Thanks, Rachel," mumbled Sam. "I'll pay you back this evening. The kids are really looking forward to seeing you again."

About thirty feet away, Santana Lopez rolled her eyes. No wonder Rachel had felt sure that Sam wasn't gay.

"I just saw Rachel and Sam squeezing hands," she whispered to Brittany.

"Really?" said Brittany. Santana nodded. "Hold on," said Brittany. "I have to go tell Puckerman that he was right." She dashed down the hall to Puck's locker. "Hey, Santana said she just saw Sam and Rachel squeezing each other.

"Gross," said Puck. He slammed his locker shut and started walking away.

"What's gross?" said Artie.

"Apparently Rachel and Sam were squeezing or kissing or something," said Puck.

"Eww," said Artie. A minute later, he passed Mike on the way to his classroom. "We were right!" he called. "Puck said Rachel and Sam were making out a minute ago!"

"Damn!" Mike replied.

"What's going on, Mike?" said Brittany, who was heading towards the same class as him.

"Rachel and Sam were seen making out at the front of the school,"

"Really?" said Brittany. Mike nodded. "Hold on, I have to go tell Santana she was right."

Later that day, Santana walked into the choir room and saw Rachel and Sam sitting together with Kurt and Mercedes nearby all talking and laughing. "Well, if it isn't Samchel," she announced.

Mercedes blinked. "_What_? I thought you guys weren't together."

"We're not," said Sam.

"Oh please, Rachel," said Brittany. "We all know you guys were making out in front of the school."

"We _weren't_!" said Rachel and Sam in unison.

"I saw you squeeze his hand," said Santana.

"I did _not_!" said Rachel.

"I _saw_ _you_!" yelled Santana. She came over and shoved Rachel into Sam's chest.

"Enough!" yelled Finn.

Everyone stopped and looked at him, surprised that he was even there, alone this time because he was officially back in school and Mrs. Fabray was still watching Lily.

"Just stop with the lying, _Samchel_," snapped Finn. Then he looked at Sam angrily, causing both Rachel and Sam to feel horrible.

"Finn," said Rachel softly. "We just…"

"It's okay, Rachel," said Finn. "I don't blame you." Then he glared at Sam again.

As Rachel and Sam climbed off the bus and walked towards the motel, Rachel said, "I just can't get over that look on Finn's face. Do you think he knows? I mean, it doesn't make any sense that he would blame you for the fact that we were lying or "dating" or whatever?"

"It's only because he thinks we're dating," said Sam. "God, he must hate me right now. From his prospective it's like this is the second time a good friend of his has gotten involved with the girl he's in lo…"

Rachel froze in her tracks and looked up at Sam. "Crap," he mumbled.

When three minutes later Rachel still hadn't said anything, Sam said, "I understand if you want to tell him the truth."

Rachel shook her head. "No," she mumbled. She wasn't going to make the mistake of compromising any of her friendships for a guy who might or might not be ready to have a relationship with her ever again. She'd made enough of a fool of herself doing that with Finn and then Jesse last year.

"Are you sure?" said Sam. "I feel like I'm ruining your life or something."

"I'm fine," Rachel insisted, putting her arm around his for a split second as he unlocked the door to the hotel room. "Don't worry."

"Hi, Rachel!" said Stacie, hopping over and this time ignoring Sam completely. "Wanna play a game with us?"

"We can start over with you," said Stevie, moving both their pieces back to start on the game board.

Rachel and Sam smiled at each other as Rachel sat down on the bed with the kids and Sam sat down at the table with his homework. "Nice to see you too, guys!" said Sam sarcastically.

* * *

><p>The next morning, Rachel couldn't help but feel that everyone was starring at her as she walked through the hallway to get to her locker, and not in a good way. "Hey, isn't that one half of Samchel?" said a cheerleader Rachel had never even met before.<p>

"Excuse me?" said Rachel. "Sam and I aren't dating and…who are you?"

"Cut the crap, slut," said the cheerleader. "We all know about you and Sam Evans in that motel room."

"Maybe they _aren't_ dating," said another girl Rachel didn't know.

"They were obviously having sex," said the first girl.

"Sex isn't dating," said the second girl. "If it were, my cousin and I would be dating."

"So-Rachel, right?-said another completely random girl coming up to her. "What's it like being a complete loser with a pimp on the football team?"

"Rachel," said Sam, coming up behind her. "What the hell is going on?"

"Why are you playing dumb?" said someone else. "It's all over the blog. Pictures of you two going into a motel room together holding each other."

"And quotes from the other residents saying she's been there with you before."

Sam just stood there, dumbstruck. Rachel opened her mouth to protest, but there was nothing she could say. The truth getting out might be even worse for Sam than this was.

"Wait a minute," said Rachel. "Exactly _what _blog?"

About five minutes later, Rachel and Sam cornered Jacob in the hallway by the water fountains, where he was interviewing a girl who may or may not be in love with a teacher. "What the hell are you trying to do to us?" shouted Sam.

"Nothing," said Jacob, still holding his microphone to his lips. "Just trying to get the truth out. So, Samchel, we all know about the two of you doing the nasty in that motel room, but what do you say to the rumors that you were also making out in the hallway at school just yesterday?"

"You want the truth?" yelled Rachel. She grabbed the microphone from Jacob and shouted, "We were _not _making out in the hallway! We weren't even kissing! All I did was hand him a dollar." She planned to say that Sam had forgotten his lunch money at home.

Jacob's eyes grew wide. "You're _paying_ him?" he squealed.

"NO!" shouted Rachel. She couldn't take it anymore. Everyone within ten feet of them heard the sound of her palm against his face.

Fifteen minutes later, Rachel and Jacob were sitting together in Principal Figgins' office. "What is the meaning of this?" said the principal. "Jacob, you I can understand getting into a fight, but _Rachel_? You have one of the cleanest track records at this school!"

"It wasn't a fight," said Jacob. "She just _hit _me!"

"Barely," said Rachel. "Besides, he's been awful to me and my friends. Blackmailing people, spreading false rumors, posting pictures online that nobody even knew were _taken_…"

"They're not false," said Jacob. "I have photos to prove it!"

"Okay, calm down," said the principal. "Rachel, is it true that you and Sam were seen entering a motel room together?"

"We were visiting mutual friends who are only in down for a few days," Rachel lied. "They've been away at college, and their parents moved after they left so they couldn't stay with them, and…"

"Liar!" said Jacob. "They were doing the dirty dance, I know it! What I'm wondering is, why couldn't it have been me?"

"Enough!" said Principal Figgins. "Rachel, is _any_ of that true?"

"No!" said Rachel. She looked him in the eye earnestly. "I'm a virgin. The truth is, Sam and I are in a healthy, committed, _celibate _relationship and proud of it. If he wants me, he's going to have to wait for me."

Rachel bit her lip and could have sworn she saw Principal Figgins tear up a little. "That's an incredible attitude for someone your age, Rachel. Don't worry, you won't get in any trouble for this. _You_," Figgins pointed to Jacob. "All these pictures prove to me is that you have been stalking your fellow students. I'm going to have to report you to the police, and for posting them on the internet I'm going to have to suspend you for six weeks for cyberbullying."

The second Rachel came walking out of the principals office, Kurt ran up to her. "Is he gonna kill you?"

"_No_," said Rachel. Then she told him everything.

"Damn," said Kurt, taking Rachel's arm. "Maybe you really should get back into acting. We could take some lessons together."


	16. Pretending

Everyone sat in the choir room taking turns rehearsing their numbers for prom night. Right now Puck and Lauren were reheasring "Don't You Want Me Baby?" while everybody else watched.

"Santana," said Brittany. "I'm worried. If someone decides to elect us prom king and queen, they're not going to be able to decide who's the king and who's the queen and we may have to split one of the crowns in half."

"That won't happen," said Santana. "_No one _in this room is going to be prom queen. You, Rachel, Mercedes, and I aren't even running, Tina is barely campaigning at all, and Lauren is campaigning by shoving kids up against their lockers and saying, "Vote for us or you'll be Zized."

"Don't be so sure," said Sunshine. "I'm running with Mike."

"You're, like, a fifth his size," said Brittany.

"You and Mike are dating?" said Santana.

"We went out a couple of times," said Sunshine with a playful smile. "Plus, I like his style. I need a man who can dance around me while I sing."

"Poor Mike," Santana mumbled under her breath. "He's dating Rachel's evil twin."

"What did you say?" said Rachel.

"Nothing," said Santana.

"Screw this," mumbled Mercedes out of nowhere. She left the choir room.

"Is she okay?" said Kurt.

"I don't know," said Rachel, getting up and walking out after her. Rachel stopped Mercdes at her locker. "Hey"

"I know I talk a good game about not needing a man, and I don't," said Mercedes. "I just really wanted to take a date to the prom. I want the dress, and the guy, and the _damn_ corsage."

"I get it," said Rachel. Then, not knowing quite what else to say, she just stood there. "Hey, I know who you can go to prom with!"

"I'm not third wheeling with you and Sam," said Mercedes. "That's even more depressing."

"Of course not," said Rachel. "You should go with Finn."

"_What_?" said Mercedes.

"He's the only other person with no date," said Rachel. "You and him can double date with Sam and I, it'll be fun."

"Well…" said Mercedes. "Okay." It was certainly better than not having a date at all.

* * *

><p>"Do I look okay?" said Sam. "I had to borrow one of my Dad's work suits."<p>

"You look great," Rachel assured him.

"I couldn't get you a corsage," said Sam rather apologetically.

"That's okay, I made one myself," said Rachel, showing him her pink wrist corsage that matched her dress.

"Are Mercedes and Finn here?" asked Sam.

"They're meeting us at Breadstix," said Rachel. She playfully took Sam's arm and he escorted her to the restaurant. Finn and Mercedes were standing outside chatting awkwardly and waiting for them. "Finn, you look amazing," said Rachel softly. Actually, he looked beyond amazing.

"You too, Mercedes," she said quickly. _Shut up, Rachel_, she told herself. _As far as they're concerned, you're dating Sam._

"Thanks," said Mercedes.

After seating them at their table, the waitress commented on how lovely Mercedes looked. "You're a lucky man," she said to Finn with a smile.

"Oh, she's not my girlfriend," said Finn quickly.

"Really?" said the waitress playfully. "Why not?"

"Um…" said Finn. The truth was, the thought of dating Mercedes was just plain weird. They never really talked, and while she could be as fun to hang out with as Rachel, he didn't like the way she started yelling at everyone when she got mad. Rachel's condescending but constructive criticisms were somehow easier for him to deal with.

"I'll take a diet coke," Rachel cut in.

"Same here," said Finn.

"I'll take a glass of water," said Sam.

"Same here," said Mercedes. Then she started munching on a breadstick.

All four of them starred at each other awkwardly for a moment, and then Mercedes looked at her breadstick and said, "I wonder if they actually make these fresh."  
>"No," said Rachel. "I heard they just fly them in from some factory in the Dominican Republic."<p>

"Well, I got some British airways down in the Dominican," said Sam, suddenly talking in a weird voice that made Rachel stare at him like he'd lost his mind and Mercedes burst out laughing. "Hey, hey, hey!" She laughed even more, and Finn and Rachel looked at each other but didn't say anything.

Mercedes nudged Rachel. "Come on, it's a Matthew McConaughey impression!"

"Ohhh," said Rachel, again exchanging glances with Finn , who didn't even know who that was.

"Wanna see what else I got?" said Sam. Then he launched into some other impression nobody else could even understand but made Mercedes laugh. "That was brilliant," she said.

"Oh, glad someone thinks so," said Sam. "Santana just rolled her eyes at pretty much everything I said. She was clearly only after one thing."

"And let me guess," said Mercedes. "It _wasn't_ your sense of humor."

Sam and Mercedes laughed. Rachel rolled her eyes. That sounded all too familiar considering why and she and Jesse had broken up.

Once they arrived at prom, Sam and Rachel knew that for appearances sake, they had to take a picture together, even if they decided not to pay for it later. Meanwhile, Mercedes and Finn headed out to the dance floor and she tried to enjoy herself and not think about how this was nothing like she had always wanted her prom to be. It took them a while to loosen up and just have a good time dancing together, but they did, just as Rachel and Sam were heading out. Rachel couldn't help but glance at Finn with his goofy made-up dance moves once in a while, and Finn glanced back at her whenever it seemed like Mercedes wouldn't notice.

"_Partying, partying, yeah!  
>Partying, partying, yeah!<em>  
><em>Fun, fun fun, fun,<em>  
><em>Looking forward to the weekend<em>!"

Rachel laughed as Puck finished up the last words of the song. "I'm actually kind of impressed. He made that song sound…"

"Hearable?" said Sam.

"Yeah," said Rachel. She saw Blaine give her a discreet wave as he came over and took the stage. The music playing instantly changed it's tune and grew soft. Rachel casually wrapped her arms around Sam's neck loosely and he put his arms around her back. Mercedes clasped her hands around Finn's neck, and he awkwardly put one of his hands on each of her sides.

"_Yellow diamonds in the light  
>And we're standing side by side<em>…"

As the sound of Blaine's voice and the soft strum of Puck and Artie's guitars filled the room, Finn couldn't help but think about how much nicer it would be to be dancing with Rachel right now, and this time, it was beyond obvious when he turned and starred right at her. By the time she turned her head to look at him, he was looking back down at Mercedes and smiling amicably.

"_It's the way I'm feeling I just can't deny  
>But I've got to let it go<em>"

"You love him, don't you?" said Sam.

Rachel sighed.

"_We found love in a hopeless place  
>We found love in a hopeless place"<em>

"You aren't the only reason I can't do anything about it," said Rachel. "I can't go after him this soon after what happened with Quinn. He would have to be the one to make the move. Or I might scare him off."

"_We found love in a hopeless place  
><em>_We found love in a hopeless place_"

"Finn," said Mercedes suddenly. "Are you in love with _Rachel_?"

Finn finally sighed. "Yes."

"_Shine a light through an open door  
>Love and life I will divide<em>"

Finn shook his head. "God, what the hell is wrong with me? She's dating my best friend. Right now the only thing that makes me any better than Puck was with Quinn is the fact that I'm not doing anything about it, but I don't know if I can keep this up much longer. I'm starting to wonder if maybe I've really loved her all along."

"_It's the way I'm feeling I just can't deny  
>But I've got to let it go<em>"

Mercedes couldn't take it any longer. She shoved him as hard as she could, turned around, and ran out of the room. Confused, Finn starred after her and then turned and looked at Rachel This time she looked back at him.

"_We found love in a hopeless place  
>We found love in a hopeless place<em>"

"Sam," said Rachel. "Mercedes just ran away." Sam and Rachel made their way over to Finn weaving their way between slow dancing couples. "Finn, what's wrong?" asked Rachel.

"_We found love in a hopeless place  
>We found love in a hopeless place<em>"

Crowds of people sitting at tables began to cheer, and Blaine motioned for Rachel to come up onto the stage and start singing her song. Reluctantly, she walked away from Sam and Finn and took the microphone from Blaine.

"_Comparisons are easily done  
>Once you've had a taste of<em>  
><em>Perfection<em>  
><em>Like an apple hanging from a tree<em>  
><em>I picked the ripest one<em>  
><em>I still got the seed<em>"

"What's wrong?" said Sam.

"I don't know," said Finn. "She just…took off."

"I'll go find her," said Sam. Finn nodded, glad not to have to be the one to go after Mercedes when he wasn't even sure what he'd done wrong. He sat down in a random chair and looked up at Rachel.

"_Cause when I'm with him I am  
>Thinking of you<em>  
><em>Thinking of you<em>  
><em>What you would do if<em>  
><em>You were the one who was<em>  
><em>Spending the night<em>"

Finn was looking right at Rachel while she sang, and without even realizing it, she was looking right at him, too.

"_Oh I wish that I  
>Was looking into your<em>  
><em>Eyes<em>"

Sam glanced frantically around the empty hallways of the school until he realized that there was only one place Mercedes was likely to go. Sure enough, there she was sitting in front of the locked choir room. "Hey," he said. "What happened?"

"What do you care?" snapped Mercedes.

"Cause I do," said Sam. "What did Finn do?"

"Nothing, really," Mercedes admitted. "He just wasn't what I ever imagined having as a prom date. I know that makes me sound like some superficial snob or something and I'm not like that at all. I just wanted to be Cinderella, just for one night. One night where a guy would look at me under those corny crepe paper streamers and say, "You look so beautiful". And then he'd take my hand and ask me to dance. Isn't that what prom is supposed to be about? Not spending the night dancing with yet another guy who's hung up on somebody else?"

"I should've known better than to let Rachel set you two up. I know exactly what girl Finn's hung up on," Sam confessed.

"You do, huh?" said Mercedes. She sighed. "This is the way it's always been. Everybody just _loves _Rachel."

"Can I tell you a secret?" said Sam. He leaned over and whispered. "I'm not _really _dating Rachel."

Mercedes was taken aback. "Say _what_?"

"We just had to pretend because of all those motel room rumors," said Sam.

"But…then why didn't you just tell people the truth?" said Mercedes.

"I'll explain everything later," said Sam. "For now…" He smiled. "Mercedes, you look so beautiful tonight." He held out his hand. "Will you dance with me?"

"_You were the best  
>And yes, I do regret<em>  
><em>How I could let myself<em>  
><em>Let you go, oh, oh, oh<em>  
><em>Now, now the lesson's learned<em>  
><em>I touched it I was burned<em>…"

Still unable to tear her gaze away from Finn, Rachel's breakup with Jesse flashed before her eyes on the last line. She didn't even notice Sam and Mercedes entering the room hand in hand.

"_Oh I  
>Think you<em>  
><em>Should know<em>  
><em>Cause when I'm with him I am<em>  
><em>Thinking of you<em>  
><em>Thinking of you<em>  
><em>What you would do if<em>  
><em>You were the one who was<em>  
><em>Spending the night<em>  
><em>Oh I wish that I<em>  
><em>Was looking into your<em>  
><em>Eyes<em>"

* * *

><p>"Wait...Sam and Mercedes are dating now?" said Mr. Schu. "What happened to Samchel?"<p>

"That was _so_ last week," said Rachel, flashing Sam and Mercedes a smile and silently praying that without Jacob gone she would still be safe to stop by and hang out with Sam and his siblings without fear of rumors.

"Um…okay," said Mr. Schu. "Well, guys, we've got a lot of work to do preparing for Nationals, and Puck and Lauren, congratulations on winning prom king and queen."

The New Directions members clapped. "Good job, you totally deserved it," said Brittany.

"I know," said Lauren.

"Now, time to start practicing our group number for Nationals," said Mr. Schu. "From the top!"


	17. Confessions

Spending time with Sam was weird now. Things between him and Finn had gotten a little tense when Sam was dating Rachel, but now that Sam had moved right from Rachel to Mercedes without anyone thinking that it was a big deal-including Rachel-things were just plain weird. Finally, one day Finn went down to the locker room where he knew Sam would be getting ready for football practice. "What's up?" said Sam.

"Dude, how could you do that to her?" snapped Finn.

"Do what?" said Sam.

"You know what!" said Finn. "Just dump Rachel for Mercedes like that."

"That's not exactly how it happened," said Sam. "At all."

"Yes it is," said Finn. "We all saw it." Sam looked away but didn't say anything for a minute.

"There's something I have to tell you," said Sam finally. "I never really dated Rachel. My family has been living in that motel for a few months now because my dad lost his job, and she found out and she's been coming over and helping me with some stuff, as a friend."

Finn starred at him in disbelief. "What kind of stuff?"

"Babysitting, mostly," said Sam. "Homework. My singing."

Finn nodded. "And there were never any feelings between the two of you?"

"No," said Sam. "It just seemed easier to deal with the fact that everyone thought I was dating her than to let them know the truth. You think the other guys on the team would ever look at me the same way again?"

Finn shook his head. "I'm in love with her, man," he blurted out.

"Then _do something _about it," said Sam.

"I don't know," said Finn. "Maybe she…maybe it's too late."

"No, trust me, it's not," said Sam, not wanting to let Finn know directly that he knew for a fact that Rachel was in love with him. "Look, if there's anything that the past year should have taught you, it's that life is too short to put off something like this. Don't be an _idiot_ and let her slip through your fingertips this time."

* * *

><p>"Rachel you have <em>got <em>to do something about this," said Mercedes, marching up to Rachel alongside Kurt with her hands on her hips.

"What's going on?" said Rachel as she turned away from the mirror, closed her makeup case, and looked at Kurt. "You aren't supposed to be in the girls' room."

"I come in here all the time," said Kurt. "The stalls are cleaner."

"This is a Finnervention," said Mercedes. "You're obviously in love with him."

"Yeah," said Rachel. "I know, it's horrible. I just don't know how to move on."

"So don't move on," said Kurt, who like Mercedes had figured out that Finn would be more than interested. "Tell him."

"I don't know," said Rachel.

"Rachel, this is the 21st century," said Mercedes. "Just go up to him, tell him how you feel and see what he thinks. Even if he needs more time, at least you'll both know where you stand."

"You're so right," said Rachel. "In fact, I think I'll do that right now." Clutching her book bag in one arm, she glanced in the mirror and nodded determinedly to herself. Then she began marching towards the front door. How had she not thought of this before? She was _going_ to-

"Whoa!" said Rachel suddenly feeling herself slip. Before she knew it, she felt the hard tile against her shoulder and face.

"Are you okay?" said Kurt as he and Mercedes came up on either side and tried to help her up.

Rachel picked herself up with her right arm-the bruised one-and reached for her throbbing nose with her left hand.

"Oh my god," said Kurt. "It's broken."

"Let's get you to the hospital," said Mercedes.

* * *

><p>"Yep, this is definitely broken," said the doctor. "But it's a clean break, so I don't have to set it. Although considering your deviated septum, I consider this a terrific opportunity for a little vanity adjustment."<p>

"You…you mean like a _nose job_?" said Rachel.

The doctor smiled. "You're sixteen, right? That's when I gave my daughters theirs. It's like a right of passage for Jewish girls."

"Ah _hell_ to the no," said Mercedes.

"Yeah," said Kurt. "We like her just the way she is."

"Can I please have you two step out of the room for a minute?" said the doctor.

Kurt and Mercedes grudgingly left the waiting room. The doctor smiled again and closed the door behind them.

"Look, I appreciate the offer, but I _can't_ do anything that's going to effect my voice," said Rachel firmly.

"It doesn't effect your voice, that's just a myth," said the doctor. "In fact, opening up that septum might allow you to take in more air per breath, which means bigger belts on your high notes."

Rachel froze. "But…Barbra…"

"Is _great_," said the doctor. "She's also one in a million. The fact is, if you really wanna be an actress, you might want to consider looking and sounding the best that you can."

Rachel looked away but didn't say anything.

"I've got an appointment open next week," said the doctor. "Can I sign you up?"

"Um…um…" said Rachel. "I'll have to think about it."

"That's fine," said the doctor. "Just give me a call." He handed her his business card."

As she stepped out into the waiting room, Rachel was surprised to see that Kurt and Mercedes were still there. "You guys don't have to stay," she said. "My Dads are picking me up."

"Rachel, there's something I have to tell you," said Mercedes. "A few months before Quinn died, she confessed to me that she got a nose job."

"_Really_?" said Rachel. "When?"

"Before high school," said Mercedes. "She said it completely changed the way people look at her forever, and she dreaded the day that she would have to tell Lily that the reason people look at her the way they do isn't because of her personality or her accomplishments, it's because she had a pointless surgery to make her face looked different."

"That's _it_!" said Rachel. "I've always been the one with the talent and smarts and _of course_ the personality, looks were the only thing Quinn ever had that I didn't! If I get a nose job, people will finally start to me the way they looked at her. I'm definitely getting one now!"

"Um…" said Mercedes.

"Rachel…" said Kurt.

"I see my Dads' car, got to go!" said Rachel. She paused to throw her arms around Mercedes. "Thank you, Mercedes! You're the best!" She ran out the door.

"Well _that _didn't work," said Mercedes.

"What kills me is that I'm sure that part of this also has to do with Finn," said Kurt. "Think about it, we basically just gave her a way to feel like she's measuring up to his last girlfriend."

"But Finn isn't superficial like that," said Mercedes. "He loves her the way she is. I wish we could just tell one of them that the other one is in love with them so they stop this nonsense before it gets any further than it already has."

"That's it!" said Kurt. He grabbed his phone. "Mercedes, call everyone in New Directions and tell them to be at the mall at four p.m. on Thursday. Except for Finn. I'll talk to him myself. I know how we're going to fix _everything_."

* * *

><p>"This was a great idea, going shopping before I get my nose job," said Rachel, slipping her arm through Kurt's as they entered the mall. "So glad you're finally accepting that I'm getting one."<p>

"Not so fast," said Kurt. He smoothly stepped in front of Rachel so she couldn't move and folded his arms across his chest. "Here's the deal. Barbra's your idol, right? Do you want to disappoint her?"

"Of course not!" said Rachel.

"Well, if you get a nose job, then you'll be _spitting_ on her legacy," said Kurt. "If you let one misguided societal pressure make you change the way you look, you'll be letting down Barbra, yourself, and all the little girls who are gonna look up at your beautiful face one day and see themselves." Rachel opened her mouth to protest, but Kurt held up his hand and stopped her.

Then out of nowhere, music started playing, Kurt started to dance, and dancers showed up out of nowhere and started to join them. A handful of them were from New Directions, but most were other dancers that Kurt knew. Rachel laughed as she was pulled into the flash mob, down the escalator, and into the middle of a huge circle of dancers. The flash mob ended with Rachel in the middle of the circle and everyone pointing to her. "_Barbra Streisand_!" She was laughing hysterically as the crowd around them cheered.

"So?" said Kurt. "Did that song inspire you?"

Rachel stopped laughing and grinned at him. "_Maybe_."

"Oh yeah?" said Kurt. "If not, then _this _will." He stepped away from her and motioned for the crowd around them to back away. To Rachel's surprise, Finn came over followed by Puck with his guitar. Kurt handed the microphone to Finn and dramatically waved his arm to present him, then stepped off to the side. Puck immediately started softly playing his guitar. Rachel started tearing up as soon as she recognized the tune.

"_Your insecure  
>Don't know what for<em>  
><em>Your turning heads<em>  
><em>When you walk through the door.<em>  
><em>Don't need makeup<em>  
><em>To cover up<em>  
><em>Being the way that you are<em>  
><em>Is enough<em>"

Finn began walking closer to Rachel, causing her to blush and turn her head slightly.

"_Everyone else in the room  
>Can see it<em>  
><em>Everyone else but you<em>"

Sam and Artie both came out of the crowd and began playing their guitars alongside Puck as Finn stepped even closer to Rachel until he was standing practically right in front of her.

"_Baby, you light up my world  
>Like nobody else<em>  
><em>The way that you flip your hair<em>  
><em>Gets me overwhelmed<em>  
><em>But when you smile at the ground<em>  
><em>It ain't hard to tell<em>  
><em>You don't know oh-oh<em>  
><em>You don't know you're beautiful<em>  
><em>If only you saw what I can see<em>  
><em>You'll understand why I want you so desperately<em>  
><em>Right now I'm looking at you<em>  
><em>And I can't believe<em>  
><em>You don't know oh oh,<em>  
><em>You don't know your beautiful<em>  
><em>That's what makes you beautiful<em>"

Rachel's heart started beating faster a she wiped tears from her cheeks. Was he really saying that he wanted her? Or just that he thought she was beautiful?

"_If only you saw what I can see  
>You'll understand why I want you so desperately<em>  
><em>Right now I'm looking at you<em>  
><em>And I can't believe<em>  
><em>You don't know oh oh<em>  
><em>You don't know your beautiful<em>  
><em>That's what makes you beautiful<em>  
><em>That's what makes you beautiful<em>"

The crowd began cheering around them as the three guitars feel silent. "Finn," Rachel whispered. "I…"

She was interrupted when Finn bent over and pulled her into a kiss.

* * *

><p>By the time Finn and Rachel pulled away from each other and Finn stepped back, the crowd was absolutely exploding.<p>

"I'm sorry," mumbled Finn. "That wasn't part of the plan."

"That was perfect," Rachel insisted. Then she grabbed his arm, intending to pull him away from the crowd, only to look up and discover that they were surrounded. They looked at each other and laughed.

"Thank you, thank you very much!" said Kurt. "Show's over, ladies and gentlemen!" Then he led all the other members of New Directions away from Finn and Rachel, causing the crowd to disperse after a few minutes.

"I never dated Sam," Rachel blurted out.

"He already told me," said Finn. Then he glanced over his shoulder nervously. Nearby, Mercedes was sitting on a bench holding Lily.

"You know, if you go out with me you aren't just getting one new person in your life," said Finn. "You're getting her, too."

"That's no problem," said Rachel. "She likes me." She waved to Lily and Mercedes stood up and walked over with her.

"Thanks," said Finn.

"No problem," said Mercedes, handing Lily over to Finn. "Took you guys long enough," she said as she walked off. Finn and Rachel laughed. Then Lily laughed too, even though she obviously had no idea what was going on, which caused Finn and Rachel to laugh harder.

Lily pointed to Rachel. "Dada _kiss_?"

"Yes, Lily," said Rachel. "I didn't know she could talk."

"Barely," said Finn. "Hey Lily, wanna go grab some lunch?"

Lily clapped her hands. "Na ba me bo WUNCH!" Rachel laughed.

"Come with us?" said Finn.

"Of course," said Rachel.

Finn shifted Lily so he was holding her on his left hip and took Rachel's hand with his other hand. "Then I guess this is our first date." The three of them began walking away together, Finn thinking that this was the happiest he had been all year.

* * *

><p>"So I guess this is happily ever after then," said Kurt. "I knew you wouldn't mind that he comes with Lily."<p>

"Of course not," said Rachel. "I love watching him with her. It makes me hope that I'll still with him when I'm twenty-five and I've won a couple of Tonys and I'm ready to have intercourse and babies."

"Getting ahead of yourself, much?" said Kurt jokingly. "By the way, after we left you guys at the mall I heard a bunch of guys talking about how cheesy that kiss was at the end. Some of them thought it was just a show."

"Wow," said Rachel. "Good thing we didn't do anything like that at nationals."

"For sure," said Kurt.

"Hey," said Rachel. "_Now_ can I sing a romantic duet with Finn?"

Kurt smiled. "It's probably our best chance of winning."


	18. Forever Yours

FOREVER YOURS

"_Highway run  
><em>_Into the midnight sun_"

Finn smiled confidently when the first two lines of his song already brought a few cheers from the crowded New York theater. This was it.

_"Wheels go round and round  
><em>_You're on my mind_"

_"Restless hearts  
><em>_Sleep alone tonight_,"

A few more cheers came when Rachel stepped out onto the huge stage into view.

"_Sending all my love  
><em>_Along the wire_"

"_And they say that the road  
><em>_Ain't no place to start a family  
><em>_But right down the line  
><em>_It's been you and me  
><em>_And loving a music man  
><em>_Ain't always what it's supposed to be_"

Finn looked across to the other side of the stage to where Rachel was.

"_Oh girl, you stand by me_."

Rachel turned back to face him and responded with.

"_I'm forever yours  
><em>_Faithfully_"

"They're doing amazing out there," said Kurt. "How on earth are we supposed to follow that up?"

"Hey, it was _your_ fault that they decided to do that song," said Tina.

"Was not," said Kurt.

"Was too!" said Tina.

Three days earlier, Kurt and Rachel had been munching bagels outside of Tiffany's in New York. "I'm just having such a hard time with this, Kurt," said Rachel. "I know I belong in New York, and I know I belong with Finn. The question is, where do I belong more?"

Kurt laughed in spite of himself. "You do realize we haven't even put together a set list for nationals yet? You are getting a bit ahead of yourself."

"I know," said Rachel. "But picture this. Finn decides to stay in Ohio with Lily, I come here and I meet some ridiculously handsome guy and fall in love with him, so I break up with Finn, then that other guy turns out to be just like Jesse and either cheats on me or dumps me over something stupid, and meanwhile Finn had moved on and married, I don't know, Brittany, and has three more kids, and I spend the entire rest of my singing career writing heartfelt songs about the one who got away…"

"Rachel, slow down!" said Kurt. "First of all, I won't let that happen, which I know because I'm coming with you. Second of all, just because you and Finn are inevitably going to be apart from each other for a long time doesn't mean you can't still be faithful."

"That's it!" said Rachel.

"Told you you were getting ahead of yourself," said Kurt.

"And now I know what Finn and I are going to sing for nationals, too," said Rachel. "Come on, let's get back to the room and make everyone rehearse!"

And now here they were.

"_I'm still yours  
><em>_I'm forever yours  
><em>_Ever yours  
><em>_Faithfully_"

The crowd exploded as the other members of New Directions made their way out onto the stage slowly. It wasn't time for the whole group to sing yet. First there was a solo that had taken forever to decide who would sing.

"I think we should do an original song for the solo!" Rachel had said. "Like the one I wrote."

"Not a bad idea," said Mr. Shu. "It's a risk, but it might just be the one we need to take!"

"I could write a song about Artie," said Tina.

"I could write a song about myself," said Sunshine.

"I could write a song about my cup," said Brittany.

"And if we can't think of anything else, we could always write songs about Sam's mouth," said Santana. Sam glared at her.

"Maybe instead we should all try to write a song for the group number," said Mr. Shue.

Meanwhile, Finn was in his room talking on the phone. "How's she doing? Taking her medicine okay? Good. Glad to hear it. I'll call you on skype after she wakes up. Love you too, Mom. Talk to you later."

"Hey."

Finn turned around. There was Rachel standing in the doorway to the boys' hotel room. He smiled. "What's going on?"

"I was wondering if you'd take a walk with me," said Rachel. "Sorry you had to leave Lily behind. It must be hard."

"It's okay," said Finn. "She's probably happier at home anyway, and I think Mom and Mrs. Fabray are having a field day taking turns fussing over her. I miss her though. It's hard being this far apart from your sick kid."

"If you wanna stay in and just see a movie instead, that's fine," said Rachel.

"Nah," said Finn. "Let's get out."

"If you insist," said Rachel, quickly giving Finn a peck on the cheek and taking his hand.

As they walked past the girls' hotel room, they saw Puck standing outside the door. "Puck, what are you _doing_?" said Rachel. "If you're looking for Lauren, she went to go see some wrestling match. If not, then you're seriously being creepy."

"Actually, I was waiting for you," said Puck.

Rachel's eyebrows went up. "Oh?"

"I wanted to talk to you about the song you wrote," said Puck. "I want to sing it."

Rachel starred at him for a moment. Then Finn covered his mouth to keep from laughing and she bit her tongue. "It was kind of written for me to sing."

"It would obviously suit me better," said Puck. "You've been in love with Finn this whole time and backed the hell off until Quinn was out of the picture, and I was in love with Quinn this whole time and tore them apart, and I'm _never _gonna stop hating myself for that until after I get up and sing that song in front of a crowd." Finn and Rachel didn't say anything. "I can _totally_ pull it off. Listen." He took a deep breath. "_What have I done? Wish I could run. Away from this…"_

At that, Finn was unable to stop himself from bursting out laughing. "Dude! Come talk to me for a second."

"Um, I have to go talk to Santana about our group number," said Rachel. She quietly zipped off.

"Maybe it'll work better _if_ I try to sing with my voice higher, like hers," said Puck.

"Don't you dare," said Finn. "You don't have to do this at all."

"Why?" said Puck. "Don't you hate me for ruining your relationship with Quinn?"

"You didn't," said Finn. "You were wrong too, but you aren't the one who cheated and then lied to me. Besides, I can't hate you. You're the reason Lily exists."

"And the reason she doesn't have a mother!" Puck blurted out.

Finn was startled. "You can't blame yourself for the fact that she died, Puck. Blame it on the alcohol. Blame it on the road. Blame it on her _father_ for turning her away. But you can't blame yourself. Trust me. I've been there."

Puck nodded. Of course he had. Quinn may not have ended up driving drunk that night if Finn hadn't kicked her out. He hadn't thought of that.

"Tell Rachel she can have her solo," said Puck with a smile.

"I will," said Finn. "She'll be happy. And relieved."

Even Puck had to chuckle at that. "By the way, I bought Lily a present for her first birthday. Is that okay?"

"Sure," said Finn. "What did you get her?"

"A skateboard," said Puck. "She's old enough for that, right?"

Finn tried not to laugh. "She'll get there."

"Great," said Puck. "Well, I'll see you tonight."

"Yeah, see you," said Finn. "Oh wait, Puck?"

"Yeah?"

"Make sure you sign the birthday card "From Puck"," okay?" said Finn.

"Of course," said Puck. "Do you think…" he hesitated. "That she'll ever know that I'm her birth father?"

"I don't think so," said Finn. "Some words are just better left unspoken."

"I know," said Puck.

Finn forced himself not to think about Puck or Lily as Rachel belted out the last few lines of her song.

"_How many times will it take?  
><em>_To get it right?  
><em>_To get it ri-i-ight."_

The crowed broke into thunderous applause as she skipped back over to the rest of the group and all turned around. The band switched gears as soon as the applause quieted, and they began to sing their group number.

"_Yeah, you may think  
><em>_That I'm a zero  
><em>_But hey, everyone you wanna be  
><em>_Probably started off like me  
><em>_Yeah, you may say  
><em>_That I'm a freak show  
><em>_But hey, give me just a little time  
><em>_I bet you're gonna change your mind  
><em>_Cause all of the dirt  
><em>_You've been throwing my way  
><em>_It ain't so hard to take  
><em>_That's right  
><em>_And I know one day  
><em>_You'll be screaming my name  
><em>_And I'll just look away"_

Rachel loved that part. She had been busy rehearsing on her own and with Finn while the rest of her team had been putting together the song, but one got the feeling that Kurt had come up with most of the lyrics

_"Hit me with the worst you got  
><em>_And knock me down  
><em>_'Cause baby I don't care  
><em>_Keep it up and soon enough you'll figure out  
><em>_You wanna be  
><em>_You wanna be  
><em>_A loser like me_

And they knew they had won.


	19. Epilogue: Ten Years Later

Rachel was sitting in the living room of her luxury apartment, sinking her feet into the soft carpet as she took a sip of her red wine.

"Honey, I'm home!" the door flew open, and Kurt burst in. "I've got amazing news." Rachel sat up. "I did it. I transferred all the money to a bank account in the Cayman islands! The fed will _never_ catch us now!"

A slow evil smile spread across Rachel's face. She stood up. "Let's celebrate."

Without another word, Kurt reached down to undo the buttons on her shirt.

"And CUT!"

Relieved to be done filming that scene, Kurt and Rachel sighed. "This is _very _unpforessional," mumbled Rachel. "Could my character at least be wearing a sweater over this or something?"

"And why does mine have to be a felon?" said Kurt.

"Because that's the way I wrote the story," said the producer irritably. "Anyway, you did a great job. That'll be enough for today."

"Thanks," said Kurt and Rachel. They walked out to the parking lot together.

"We still have our appointment at the recording studio on Friday, right?" said Kurt.

"Yeah," said Rachel.

Kurt hesitated. "You do realize that releasing this new album of ours means we have to go on tour at some point. Are you prepared to take that time away from your family?"

"I don't travel that often," Rachel assured him. "They won't mind. Speaking of which, are you coming with us to Ohio for Artie and Tina's wedding?"

"Sure, but you'll have to be my date if Blaine can't take time off," Kurt joked.

"Deal," said Rachel. She and Kurt did the gay hi-five before getting in their cars. Rachel's car soon hit the driveway of her large house-actually it was more like a mansion-in Brooklyn. As soon as she opened the door, Lily ran over to greet her. "Rachel! How was your day? How's Uncle Kurt? Will you help me with my homework? Please?"

"Of course I will," said Rachel, quickly giving her stepdaughter a hug. "Uncle Kurt's fine, my day was…interesting."

"Hey you," said Finn. He came over to Rachel and Lily followed by a silky golden retriever. "How are my best girls doing?"

"Can I go take Star for a walk?" asked Lily. "_Please_?"

"Make it quick," Finn warned her. "It's almost dinnertime." The girl and the dog ran off to get the leash. "Ariana! Aiden! Mommy's home!"

The playroom door opened and out tumbled Finn and Rachel's three-year-old daughter and two-year-old son. They ran into their mother's arms and she scooped them up and hugged them one by one.

"Let's go help Grandma Carole set the table for dinner," Finn suggested.

As usual, the meal Carole had cooked for them was fabulous. "I hope the kids didn't give you too much trouble today," said Finn warningly.

"Of course not," said Carole. She beamed. "They were angels."

"So," said Rachel, "I didn't have the chance to ask the men how their day at the tire shop was."

"Long," said Burt and Finn in unison.

"Lucky thing you had _me_ to help you!" said Lily with a grin.

"You went to the tire shop with them?" said Rachel, surprised.

"Got her hands all dirty, too," said Finn. "Then she came home and took three showers."

"Of course I did," said Lily. "Some oil got on my hair."

"How was your day, Rachel?" said Finn.

"You might be jealous when you find out what they're having my character do with Kurt's character," said Rachel teasingly.

Finn's face went from confused to revolted. "No way."

"Way." Burt and Carole just looked at each other and laughed.

"They made you sing together?" said Lily questioningly.

Rachel smiled. "Something like that."

Ariana's eyes widened. "Uncle Kurt can sing?"

"Of course he can," said Lily. "When I was born, Daddy, Rachel, my mom, Uncle Kurt, Uncle Blaine, and all their friends were in a singing club together. That's where Daddy learned how to sing."

"Cool!" said Ariana.

"Can you still remember the songs you used to sing?" asked Lily.

"Um…not really," said Finn.

"Sure we can," Rachel nudged him. "Remember the last one we ever sang in the chior room? You know, the day before we graduated?"

"I don't really know if I can still…"

"Sing, Daddy!" demanded Aiden.

"Yeah!" Ariana chimed in.

"Do it!" said Lily.

"Come on, Finn, let's hear it!" said Burt.

"What's the matter?" said Carole. "Cat got your voice?"

And with his entire family working against him, Finn had no choice to comply.

"_Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road_  
><em>Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go<em>"

Rachel smiled.  
>"<em>So make the best of this test, and don't ask why<em>  
><em>It's not a question, but a lesson learned in time<em>"

They sang the next part together.

"_It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right._  
><em>I hope you had the time of your life<em>  
><em>It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right.<em>  
><em>I hope you had the time of your life<em>"

They paused for a moment before Rachel sang again, "_It's something unpredictable_,"

"_But in the end it's right_" sand Finn

"_I hope you had the time of your life_."


End file.
